Being Shinobi
by Wellies
Summary: Because it can't be all about jutsu and pure good intentions. Sometimes, people cannot be saved. Sometimes, people will not change. Sometimes, situations are more complex than they look. Sometimes, all a ninja can do is hold on. Watch them struggle, watch them fail and watch them become victorious. They can't afford to be human. They are shinobi.
1. Prologue

Prologue

IT IS STRANGE. It seems as if people do not understand what it takes to be a shinobi. It is more than jutsu and chakra. Justice is not guaranteed. Missions do not always end in success.

And the individuals on these missions have more to them than one dimensional personalities.

Shinobi do not live a life of comfort. Marriage is rare, sex is common, and children are a luxury only certain clans can only dream of. Far more common are sleepless nights and demented dreams, extensive cries in showers long run cold, mindless training to fight off the feeling of Death breathing on their necks. Their houses are mostly empty; dust can linger for days while on an extended mission. Their bodies are hard, conditioned to withstand torture and war. Their emotions seem to be more vivid, more real and vibrant than those of civilians. Shinobi feel more, they see more, they hear more because in a world where loss and missions are the only constants, what else can they possibly indulge in than the tangible world around them?

Shinobi, in a sense, are not Homo sapiens. They're not _human._ Humanity is something most ninja lose early in their childhood. Mercy. Empathy. Dreams. Wishes.

Can you not see now? That these are privileges in a ninja world? You see… shinobi aren't expected (aren't hired) to be _human_. Shinobi are _shinobi._ That is how it is.

But sometimes.

Sometimes, there is an Incident. An Incident in which the world is shaken, in which tradition is broken and eyes are opened and _something_ is about to hit the fan.

And so, on October 10 in Konohagakure, in the era of Minato Namikaze Yondaime Hokage, a Jinchuuriki was born.

An Incident happened.

* * *

Hello there fair reader! Reviews would be appreciated, though there is not much at this point. If mistakes are made, a PM could be sent and the change be done. Thank you for reading.

And welcome, dear reader, to SHINOBI.


	2. 1: IN WHICH there are Three

Chapter 1: IN WHICH there are Three

EIGHT YEARS AFTER Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, the hidden villagers had finally repaired most of their buildings. The sun was just waking up, though the city was already bustling; the shinobi were awake.

Quick! There, a tiny blur of brown and yellow! It darted through the crowded streets, dodging left and right, sometimes jumping onto the rare civilians' shoulder with all the delicacy of a passing feather before zooming off into thin air for a single moment and delving back into the fray below. And no one noticed. The blur moved too fast, simply too agile and unnoticeable when compared to the calls of street vendors hawking their wares.

But, perhaps if the blur was just a _little_ slower, just a _little_ heavier, the villagers would have backhanded it off their shoulders in disgust. For this blur was the leper of the village. Yes. This blur was the eight-year-old Uzumaki Naruto.

The blur ducked into an alleyway. It stopped for a moment then quickly clambering up the layout of pipes on the side of a building before coming to a rest on the roof. Here, we see our first real glimpse of Uzumaki Naruto. He was tiny, most likely from malnourishment, and his bright gold hair was shot through with greenish slime, similar to that found on the ceiling of the sewers of Konoha, and the grime on his face obscured the faint whisker marks on his cheeks. The only thing about him that really stood out was the nuggets of sapphire in the place of his eyes. They were beautiful, startling, his eyes were. They stared out at the world with the most curious expression of mischief and earnestness. Underneath the surface swam the harder emotions to decipher: fatigue and wariness.

The little boy plopped himself down on the roof of the building. It was one of the less frequented (what a euphemism!) buildings of Konoha; it was the roof of his apartment. The boy had clutched in his hand the largest wad of money he had yet, ano, acquired from the marketplace he'd just visited.

"Mou!" the boy exclaimed softly. "Gama-chan will eat well tonight, ne?" Naruto had a small habit of talking to himself; no one else, it seemed, took enough notice of him to even try to befriend him.

In another world, Uzumaki Naruto was always loud, always obnoxious, and always noticeable. In this world, in a shinobi world, Uzumaki Naruto was a phantom Jinchuuriki. No villager ever saw him, no wandering ninja ever sensed him, no one ever _noticed _him until he did something drastic and eye-catching. Naruto did not do anything, he figured, drastic and eye-catching. Ever. He was content with this. He had Gama-chan, he had the wind to speak to, and he had devised numerous amounts of games to keep himself occupied.

Sighing when the wind only ruffled his hair affectionately, Naruto stood up and moved to the side before kneeling once more. He moved his fingers around the tile on the roof blindly, stopping once he felt a loose corner tug at his finger. With a swift movement, he pried the tile off the roof, revealing the top level of his apartment.

"Headfirst is the fun way down," he murmured. Yes, this was one of the games Naruto liked to play with himself. Fall in the apartment, not knowing what was in it. Down he fell, headfirst into his empty living space.

Again he was a brown and yellow blur, hurtling down to meet the dark unknown.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was uncomfortable. She sat in a black loose robe and black training pants, calves tucked firmly under her bottom, her untouched cup of tea cold while the two men before her had some kind of silent conversation that only grown-ups could understand. Hinata, however, knew better than to _fidget_ (her father frowned at this), or _whimper_ (her father would 'hn' at this), or, dare she think it, _whine_ her concern that her legs would lose their mobility factor if she continued to sit in this position. Her father absolutely, positively hated whining. It was not _Hyuuga._

Oh, look, her father and the other man had left the room while she mused on her discomfort. Hinata breathed a barely audible sigh of relief, taking it upon herself to wriggle subtly around a bit. She had never wriggled before in front of her father. He had never expressed his displeasure at wriggling. Perhaps because she had never asked for his permission to _wriggle_.

Oh, she felt so deliciously _bad._

Savoring her slight rebellion against her father, she almost missed it. She almost missed the most single emotive display her father had ever performed within her earshot.

A crash was heard.

In the next room, Hyuuga Hiashi had just broken a _vase_. He swore at himself inwardly, then turned to face the speech therapist in front of him. The other man, he had forgotten his name, looked at him in bespectacled bewilderment, his salt and pepper eyebrows lifting in polite curiosity.

"…something wrong, Hyuuga-sama?" the man's chocolate voice asked, smooth as velvet.

"Yes," Hiashi said somewhat stiffly. "I believe you just told me my daughter, the _heiress of the Hyuuga clan, _has a _speech impediment._"

The speech therapist blinked. "Oh yes! She does have a speech impediment, Hyuuga-sama-"

"I see." The dismissal was clear. His expertise was no longer needed. The bespectacled man stood six feet away from the Hyuuga head. The air around them was confusing to any passerby. One man was intensely contemplating something, and the other was waiting for something to happen, very confused as to why he was suddenly dismissed. The speech therapist blinked again.

"Well," he said, looking around as if he'd brought something with him and misplaced it. "I should be on my way now."

Silence answered him. The man was no fool. He knew better than to just suddenly leave without the acquiescent nod of the Hyuuga head. Speech therapists were at the bottom of the pyramid. _Hyuuga_, by way of hierarchy, were at the top. The man did not want to think of the ways he could lose business if offended the Hyuuga before him; the options simply made his head spin. And so, he waited. The silence had gotten thick again and his right big toe was falling asleep before his patron acknowledged his request to leave.

"Yes, I suppose you should…" said Hiashi distractedly. "Someone will show you to the door."

Like magic, a faceless Hyuuga grew from the shadows to approach a door opposite the one the speech therapist had entered. The nameless Hyuuga did not seem to acknowledge his existence in any way, assuming that the man he was asked to escort would just follow him. For a second there was a moment of confusion on the doctor's part with uncertain gestures and flailing of hands, eventually following the servant.

"Speech impediment," muttered Hiashi. His voice gave away nothing as he looked up toward the ceiling. "How about _that_, Kanako?"

In the other room, Hinata also looked at the ceiling.

_Haha-ue, it seems I have disappointed Chichi-ue once more. Tommorow I will try harder, ne?_

* * *

Two pink-haired children played in the large space behind their house. Their mother had insisted on purchasing the plot and paying a landscape artist to outfit it with sakura trees. When the trees blossomed, the children would frolic among the orchard, exploring the seemingly large world of their backyard.

"Mou, Ichirou, wait up!" a little girl's voice rang out, clear and true as a bell. The boy ahead of her only laughed in reply.

"Maybe if you ran faster, you could get your ribbon back!" the boy's voice was mischief incarnate.

"If you don't stop, I'll tell Hinata-san you're a meanie!" Haruno Sakura told her male counterpart. Even if he was seconds older than she was, it didn't mean he could push her around! The boy blushed, a light innocent pink dusting his face.

"You wouldn't," he stage whispered, shocked at the audacity of his shy twin. Sakura just stared back at Ichirou.

"Ichi-nii, give it back!" With a cry, she tackled her brother.

But they had forgotten the words of their mother:

_"Don't go past that second to last sakura tree. The roots become gnarly and the ground is uneven. There are rocks, rocks sharp enough to really hurt you. Stay safe, my lovelies."_

Sakura, despite her sweet countenance, was a rough tomboy around her twin. She was impulsive, impatient, and sometimes annoying. She hit hard, she bit hard, and she played hard. And she tackled harder. So when she tackled her brother, Ichirou, there was no way she could have known, caught up in the moment, that her brothers pink head would hit a sharp rock. She was giggling and smiling, happy to have gotten her ribbon back. And then she looked over at her brother. Unconscious, with blood running down the side of his head. She cradled his head gently in her fair hands.

Hands that quickly turned red with her brother's blood.

"No." she breathed. "No no no no no. NO!"

The no's turned to yells, which turned to high pitched screams, which sent her parents running to see what the problem was, which turned to panic at the state their children were in, which turned to desperation when Sakura refused to let her brother's broken form go.

"No, _please._" Sakura whispered.

After that were a series of strange dreams and strange sounds: the sound of her own senseless babbling, the sound of wind whooshing through her ears, the sound of rapid footsteps and heavy breath, of a door being pushed open and her parents' cries of "help our son!" echoing in her ears.

And the sound, the hated sound of a blunt overworked medic-nin, "Gomen, Haruno-san, he is gone. You came too late."

_You came too late._

Sakura started to keen. She screamed her hurt to the heavens. She gnashed her teeth, bit her tongue and broke down in tears. She was a wildcat, clawing at anything. Her face. Her arms. The ground. Her parents. She let all her grief out.

She was spent when the actual funeral came round.

* * *

Restlessness. The feeling of starting a new story is soul-consuming. Thank you for reading.


	3. 2: FIVE YEARS later

Chapter Two: FIVE YEARS later

THE SUN ROSE over the faces of the Hokages in Konohagakure leisurely. All was peaceful in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. On this day in another story, the same day that Haruno Sakura lost her twin to misfortune and deformed sakura trees, there would have been exasperated cries of "Uzumaki Naruto!" ringing from the Hokage Tower clear to the abandoned Uchiha district. You would have seen an orange blur shoot across the building tops, carrying buckets of paint half its size and grinning a monstrously bright grin.

However, in this story, a significantly _less_ orange blur shot across the roofs of Konoha buildings, thinking only one thing: _Today I'll get someone to notice me. Someone will have to acknowledge me today, of all days_

The thirteen year old Uzumaki had similar, if not identical, thoughts everyday as he made his way to school. Being a phantom had worn on him. When he was eight, it was okay. When he turned nine, it had been bearable. But thirteen? He wanted a friend, damn it. This simple desire, the desire to be recognized, is what kept him training into all hours of the night.

Oh yes, he would pass that damn genin exam this time. He'd found his trump card when he had been wondering through the village after his midnight training sessions and had chanced upon an abandoned scroll of _Chakra Control: Simple to Intricate. _Naruto was fairly sure he did not know the kanji for the word intricate, but he sure appreciated the kind soul who left the scroll in a puddle of questionable liquid. Not entirely sure how this would help with his failure at making the Bushin, he practiced the techniques in the book until his extremities were shaking with chakra exhaustion. When he tried the Bushin again, he managed to make mostly decent clones. As long as the sensei at the Academy didn't look at the back part of the clones, it was all good, dattebayo. His clones tended to have half of the hair in the back missing, leaving a patch the size of a larger shuriken bald and bare as the day he was born.

Inhaling deeply, he stopped in front of the Academy doors, steeling himself. (_You can do this, Uzumaki! Get your shit together!_) He walked through the open doors quietly, making his way to Umino Iruka-sensei's classroom. He opened the door, determined to get someone, anyone, to notice him today. _This is the day. This is the time. _

He was greeted by a dull kunai making its way to his face.

* * *

Precisely two minutes before, Uchiha Sasuke had quietly been sitting in his seat, hands folded in front of his mouth, elbows on the table, eyes forward. To the surprise of some, he was not thinking about ways to kill his homicidal brother. He was thinking about the pile of unwashed laundry he'd yet to do. It was a large pile of blue shirts, underwear, and light tan shorts that just sat, festering, in the middle of his living space. Yes, dear reader, Sasuke is a closet procrastinator. He makes a Nara look motivated. We all know how hard _that_ is.

Nothing jolted his thoughts about his dirty laundry, not even the harsh screaming of Yamanaka Ino facing down his horde of fan girls. She was claiming that since they were both from clans, honorable and well-known clans, that they should sit together, in the pursuit of friendship and harmony between the Yamanaka and the Uchiha. This is, of course, only a lie. Ino merely wanted to sit by her crush. She was thirteen—not a shinobi. She could do things like that right?

Wrong. Obviously not everyone thought the same as she did, for Haruno Sakura had stood up.

The room turned silent. The Ice Queen was about to address her inferiors.

"Brat. Perhaps you should attend a regular academy. You act like the civilian girls do." She stated quietly. Her pink hair was just below her shoulder blades. Her red quipao dress was immaculate; the red ribbon around her neck was tied firmly in the back. Her jade eyes pierced those of Ino's.

Ino put a demure hand to her mouth. "My, my. It seems I have thawed out the Ice Queen. Perhaps you just wanted Sasuke to your—"

Reader, let us revisit the character of Haruno Sakura once more. She was a rough tomboy, despite her appearance. She was impulsive, impatient, and sometimes annoying. She hit hard. She bit hard. And she threw kunai hard. Was it mentioned that her temper was horrible?

The kunai whistled through the air. Ino, by sheer luck and good instinct, ducked as soon as she saw Sakura's hand twitch. The deadly projectile would safely bore a hole through the unopened door, avoiding any injuries to the students in the classroom. Right? Wrong. It was at this instant, in which Ino had made her logical assumption, that Uzumaki Naruto turned the knob of Iruka-sensei's door, pushed it, and stepped across the threshold and into the classroom.

* * *

Naruto's husky chuckle broke through the heavy silence of the classroom. There stood the phantom Jinchuuriki with a kunai palmed firmly in his hand. His clothes were a nondescript gray. His pants were littered with all sizes of pockets, one tan hand embedded in a pocket at his hip. His face was clear of blemishes and three faint marks obscured his cheekbones. On his head were a pair of goggles that did no good job of holding his hair from his forehead. His golden locks fell over the green goggles, almost obscuring them. His eyes are a brilliant royal blue against his tanned skin. He was small and wiry. He was the strangest mix of forgettable and not forgettable. He was the _oddest _thing the class before him had ever seen.

"Are you new?" asked a blunt Kiba, eyeing Naruto's unimpressive height. "This is the graduating class. Are you sure you've found the right room?"

Naruto chuckled to himself. "Inuzuka-san, I have been in this class since I was six years old. I'm pretty sure I am in the right room."

Kiba leaned back in his seat, arms folded and skeptical. "Heh. What's your name, brat?"

"Uzumaki Naruto. Take care of me, ne?" He winked at the boy with the dog on his head. Kiba's nose twitched in annoyance as parts of the class broke out in whispers.

_Uzumaki Naruto? _

_Isn't that the name Umino-sensei calls before Sasuke-kun?_

_Thought he was just a blip on the roster. _

_Baaaka. Shinobi don't make mistakes._

"Shika, look!" Chouji nudged his lazy friend out of his nap, though gently. Many didn't know that Shikamaru had an awful disposition when woken from his naps. He watched as his best friend's eyes slowly opened. The Nara groaned.

"What?"

"Uzumaki Naruto finally came to school!" Chouji said somewhat excitedly

"That's not news, baka. He's always here. He sits behind us." With this, Shikamaru laid his ponytailed head back on his spot of the table to sleep again.

"Excuse me," said the throaty voice of Naruto. He nearly scared the classmates sitting on the row behind the Nara and Akimichi into heart attacks. "I need to get to my seat –ttebayo."

Now the entire class was in a mild state of panic; they had not seen him approach the row he stood in front of and his soon-to-be catchphrase was… corny. Sasuke tore his gaze from the wall he'd been staring at. _Dattebayo? Only idiots say such things. _

Sakura stared at the boy who had caught her kunai. _Sounds like something Ichirou would've came up with. _

Hyuuga Hinata glanced at the boy before glancing away. _Oh, it seems like I am not the only one that has a strange way of saying things. _However, she kept her mouth closed firmly. She did not feel like being noticed for the strange stutter that always permeated her words when she spoke.

Naruto, on the other hand, had become impatient with his classmates. _I'm here on time everyday. Why is it such a big deal that I walked through the door?_ He thought to himself, completely forgetting about the shuriken (or was it kunai?) that he had caught. Absently he rubbed his hand on his pants. _Why does my hand feel like it's burning a little?_

The excitement came to an end when Iruka-sensei strode through the open door. "Ohayo."

The class greeted him, albeit hastily, before falling into their normal pattern. Without anyone's noticing, Uzumaki Naruto got back to his seat.

Iruka-sensei eyed the whole of the room. Everyone was where they were supposed to be… hmm… something seemed…

"Kurosaki! You should know better than to eat in this room!"

"Sensei! I didn't have breakfast this morning!"

"Sneaking to eat, and doing it so blatantly, is unacceptable!" Iruka was grinning on the inside, though his scarred-face self was stern and reprimanding on the outside. This, admittedly, was one of his favorite parts of teaching at the Academy—introducing ways of ninja training into everyday actions. The student he was chastising and he had a stare down. Iruka give a tiny smile as the realization came over Kurosaki's face. _Oh yes. You can eat. Just don't get caught. _

How shinobi of him.

Iruka turned his sharp eye to the class at large. "Today we shall begin the genin exams. Akimichi Chouji, please come forward."

So the examination begun.

* * *

Naruto was proud of himself. He'd finally passed the genin exams; it was about damn time he mastered that Bushin Justu (He hadn't really mastered it. That fact slipped his minded entirely.) He had made his way to the swing a ways across from the Academy before stopping midway there. Someone else was on his swing. Naruto's heart pounded in his chest. _This could be the day. _

Sneakily, he made his way to the branches right above the tree. The person below never noticed him. He took his time to study the person hunched in the swing. He couldn't really tell if it was a girl or a boy. Either way, they were slightly taller than him, perhaps by two or three centimeters. The head full of indigo hair was slightly wavy and just covered the nape of the person's neck. Naruto's heart sped up some more and he wondered if his soon to be companion could hear his heavy breathing. Shifting to see the person's face better, he misplaced his foot and crashed through the tree branches. By sheer luck and quite a bit of flexibility, Naruto managed to hook his foot on the top of the lowermost branch. His other foot was still looking for purchase as he breathed sigh of relief into the face of the person in the swing.

"EH?" Naruto stated somewhat loudly.

He was staring into the largest lilac eyes he'd ever seen. A pale, bare ivory neck that delicately connected with a feminine jawline. They had no pupils and were framed by long, thick indigo lashes. Two indigo eyebrows were raised in startled surprise. A rosebud mouth was opened in shock. A light pink was dusting the round cheekbones of a pretty faced… male? Female? Naruto's poor eyes were inexperienced with dealing with androgynous people. With all the delicacy of an elephant stepping on a bed of eggshells, he timidly asked:

"Ano sa, ano sa… Are you a boy or a girl, Tranny-san?"

Hinata's face fell at the term the boy before her had bestowed on her. Faintly she repeated it to herself, "Tranny-san." She felt her soul leave through her mouth before sucking itself back in.

Naruto watched in fascination as the mouth of the person before him moved slowly. _What pretty lips_, he thought dazedly. He thought the current haze on his mind was due to the proximity of a person that actually met his eyes. Lavender eyes that had a glaze of dismay to them.

"U-U-U-U-Uzumaki-s-s-s-san," Naruto's breath drew inward sharply at the sound his new friend's voice. "I-I-I-I a-a-am a g-g-g-girl."

After this stuttered statement, the branch Naruto's foot was hanging off decided it was tired of supporting someone so tactless and promptly broke. For a few seconds, all Hinata could see was an avalanche of green leaves and the occasion arm length brown branch. A rustle was heard before a person shot out of the large pile of foliage. Surprisingly, Naruto was smaller than the pile he had just erupted from.

"Nice to meet ya!" he said with quiet energy. He held out his hand. "Naruto Uzumaki, future head of Intelligence and Torture Unit at ya service!"

Hinata just blinked at him. "Hinata." Later, she would realize that she had never given him her last name, just her given first name and blush uncontrollably in the middle of dinner with her family.

Naruto gave her a happy grin. It defined the term 'mile smile' quite nicely. Suddenly, he looked at the sun, smile fading just a little. Hinata turned her eyes to look in the same direction.

"Well I gotta run. Nice seeing you Hinata!" Naruto smiled at her. He was very happy to have finally gotten the attention of someone. He slipped away after he saw Hinata's absent nod.

_I hope I cheered you up, ne Hinata? _Naruto smiled to himself.

Back on the swing, a silver haired traitor wearing a snake's grin approached Hinata.

"Hyuuga-san, do want to become a genin?" asked Mizuki. A silent, earnest nod was all the encouragement Mizuki needed. "Well…"

* * *

Hinata was nervous. She fidgeted. She wriggled and was very close to whimpering, or (dare she think it) whining. Chichi-ue would be _furious_, if he could see her now. She had stolen through the window and taken a scroll from the Hokage's office while he was out, leaving a transformed log roughly the same size in its place. There had been a moment of panic in which a noise was heard in the hallway outside. Hinata had scrambled, grabbing the scroll and taking to the window, freefalling down into a tree just outside. From there she had transformed the log-scroll into a flower and tucked it behind her ear. Leisurely in a circuitous manner she had made her was to the meeting place designated by Mizuki-sensei.

Nervous as she was, she had just bent down to pick at some grass to play with. It was by sheer chance that she missed the first few shuriken thrown. It was Mizuki's good fortune that she didn't register the gust of wind that crossed her back and didn't see the shuriken embedded in the tree a few feet away. _Stupid Hyuuga brat. _

Hinata fidgeted some more, with grass between her fingers. Her nose twitched with the smell of her Academy teacher. She looked hopefully at the tree line from her spot in the clearing. "M-M-M-M-Mizuki-sensei?"

Mizuki stepped out of the trees. "Yes Hyuuga-san. Did you learn a technique from the scroll?"

Hinata gulped. "H-H-Hai. W-Would you l-l-like me to p-p-p-perform it?"

Mizuki gave no answer and moved until he was two feet away from Hinata. Hinata gulped again. The tension in the air was palpable. She tried again. "Mizuki-s-s-s-sensei?"

No answer. That is when he struck. His hand darted forward with all the intent of incapacitating the Hyuuga, taking the scroll, and framing her for stealing it. Imagine his surprise when an object distinctively not human met his hand with blinding speed. His intake of breath was lost in the collision of the log and his limb.

When the sawdust cleared, Hinata stood further away, near the tree that had previously been porcupine-d with shuriken. In a brilliant show of nonchalance, Hinata turned her back to Mizuki, activating her Byakugan silently.

"P-P-Poisoned shuri-i-iken. Somet-t-thing l-l-lethal, b-by the s-smell of it." Hinata took a deep breath. She was shaking on the inside and her hand trembled discreetly. _Please let this work._

She started the verbal signal, weakly and then strongly.

"M-M-Mizuki-s-s-sensei, I charge you with a-a-a-attempted m-murder o-o-o-of a f-fellow n-ninja and a-a-attempted t-theft of t-t-the F-F-Forbidden S-Scroll. R-R-Remember, y-y-you f-f-forfeited y-your r-r-rights to a fair trial when you became a civilian. Do not resist; do not run. I have clearance to use deadly force if necessary."

And then she waited. She waited for the ANBU to jump out of their trees and detain the traitor Mizuki. The forest was silent for a moment before Mizuki laughed maniacally. _How strange, _thought Hinata as she sank into a stance faintly derivative of the Juuken. _That the birds are chirping and the squirrels chatter but someone will die in these woods tonight. _

Her was stance low—very low and only about 20 centimeters from the ground. Her hands were opened palms near her determined face. Mizuki only laughed. Her balance was off; all of her weight was on her front leg. Her back leg was an easy target.

In a blink of an eye, Mizuki was behind Hinata, aiming a vicious stomp to the back of her calf. Imagine his surprise when the leg swept up to meet his chest. A solid thump sent him stumbling back, though he composed himself quickly. He mentally assessed the damage. There was no disruption of his chakra; it was just a strong kick.

Hinata's eyes, devoid of the Byakugan, narrowed. _That's no good. _They were at a standstill as Mizuki regained his breath and Hinata repositioned herself. Mizuki gave her a bloodthirsty grin.

"It seems you _don't_ have the damn scroll anyways. No matter. I can always come back, but you probably won't ever become a genin. Hiashi-kun must be so… disappointed, ne Hina-chan?" he smiled eerily at her. The sun had set and his teeth gleamed in the dimmed light, reflecting the glow of the stars in a poor imitation of the moon. The forest was alive with the chattering of nocturnal animals. One cat perched on a branch, luminescent eyes disinterestedly observing the skirmish.

Mizuki sobered. "Iku ze."

Hinata ran to meet him. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the forest. Hinata's style of fighting was unorthodox for a Hyuuga. She danced around Mizuki; she never stood still. Her footwork was impossible to follow as she ducked under her former teacher's attacks and blocked his kicks. Mizuki drove a punch to Hinata's gut. She recklessly grabbed his right wrist and got inside his guard. She delivered a palm to his left shoulder. Mizuki stepped back and Hinata pressed her advantage. In quick succession, she placed another palm to his left shoulder before Mizuki caught her bodily and threw her.

She twisted her body in midair to land on her feet. She hadn't used much of her chakra and she was just a bit out of breath. She slid into her stance. _I have to end this. My stamina is unsatisfactory; I can't keep this up and still finish this the way I want to. _

Mizuki's teeth caught the light again. In a breath he was behind her, wrenching her arm into a painful position. Hinata gave a choked gasp of pain. Mizuki smiled sadistically. "Give."

Hinata whimpered as he put more pressure on her arm. If he twitched, her shoulder would dislocate. She relaxed, trying to alleviate and anticipate for what would happen next. Mizuki decided her silence was enough of an answer.

A horrible scream filled the air as Hinata lost the use of her right arm. Using her feet, she kicked at his knee caps and, using the last of her strength, grasped Mizuki's shoulder. With a grunt of pain as her right arm roughly left Mizuki's slightly weakened grasp, she flipped herself over Mizuki's shoulder with one limb. For a second, her lithe, compact body was suspended in the the night air before she tumbled gracefully to her knees on the ground behind Mizuki.

_Please, please let them work, _she prayed to Kami. "Fuin." she gasped. Her eyes fluttered close.

Mizuki's body stopped and fell forward as the seals activated. Hinata's breath left her as the seals stole her chakra. She was spent. Completely and utterly spent. Still, she opened one brilliant lavender eye and rasped:

"Minna-san, p-please come out."

The night cat that watched the fight yowled as it transformed into a mask-wearing figure. Hinata could not see much as it was dark and her Byakugan wasn't an option. She had exhausted her chakra supply. But she could just hear the snap of twigs among the trees, indicating the presence of many more Black Ops. She could just barely see the painted face of the ANBU directly in her line of sight.

"Inu-san, please arrest the man immobile on the floor." She said politely, steadily, trying her hardest to speak through the pain and not stutter. "My shoulder is dislocated; I am sure I can bear the pain."

The lax voice of Inu filled the night. "Are you sure, Hyuuga-sama?"

Hinata's eye shut on itself and she took a slow, shaky breath. "L-L-Leave me, I-I-Inu-s-s-san."

"As you wish, Hyuuga-sama."

Hinata turned her face to the crescent moon in the sky. _Are you watching, Haha-ue?_

* * *

In the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi Hiruzen hmph-ed to himself. "It seems," he said to his empty office. "That we shall have a good set of shinobi this year."

* * *

The next week, the graduates of the Academy had the scare of their lives. Hyuuga Hinata, the unassuming former heiress of the Hyuuga clan, came through the door, tan bandages covering her right arm. The bottom half of her face had a yellow blossoming bruise. The camaraderie of the classroom fell silent as the students watched Hinata make her way to her desk. No one said a word as she sat down. There was nothing to be said.

Hinata had a faint smile on her face as her left hand came to touch the hitai-ate wrapped around her neck. The class heard her voice in what seemed like ages.

"M-M-Minna-s-s-san, I am shinobi." She said softly.

The classroom broke into sound again. That was all the answer they needed.

* * *

"…and those are the members of Team Six. Team Seven: Haruno Sakura. Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi-san. Team Eight: Aburame Shino. Hyuuga Hinata. Inuzuka Kiba. Your Jounin sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai-san. Team Nine is in circulation from last year. Team Ten: Nara Shikamaru. Yamanaka Ino. Akimichi Chouji. Your Jounin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma-san." Iruka took a breath to survey his class. Envious whispers had stolen through the room at the mention of the last Jounin sensei.

_Sarutobi? As in Sandaime-sama Sarutobi? _thought Haruno Sakura.

_Must be a great ninja. The Sarutobi clan _is _powerful, _acquiesced Uchiha Sasuke.

_A Sarutobi as a Jounin sensei? Our sensei must kick ass if he's in the same rank as a family member of Oji-chan, _thought Naruto.

Naruto gave a large, unseen grin, as did Haruno Sakura.

_Hell fucking yeah,_ they thought simultaneously.

Sasuke's folded hands covered a smirk. _Let's see where this takes me. I'll kill him in no time._

"Ikzou," said Naruto quietly, startling his neighbors.

_When did Uzumaki-san get there?_

* * *

Ohh. The story is progressing. How nice.

To my dearest KoiFusion, I love you very much. Marry me. I sang opera after I read your review! Feedback... the afterglow is _amazing_.

Oh, by the way, Naruto is not mine. I forgot to mention it.

Thank you for reading.


	4. 3: CATERING TO the future shinobi

Chapter Three: CATERING TO the future genin

Naruto was bored. He'd been sitting in this classroom for an hour and a half, waiting on his laudable sensei to walk through the door and actually teach them something. He was getting impatient. His teammates didn't notice as he made his way to the side of the door, sinking against the walls. He pulled out a senbon from one of his skinnier pockets from the back of his pants to chew on. The senbon swished back and forth as tiny cloud storms gathered round his head. The Uzumaki didn't grumble, or whine or try to get the attention of his female teammate. He just pouted quietly to himself.

Sasuke was bored. He'd been sitting in this classroom for an hour and a half—that was the time it took to sort his clothes and put them in the washing machines. His laundry could've been halfway done before his sensei decided to show his face. He let out a long breath. _I'm not training. I'm not doing laundry, cleaning or going on missions for Konoha. I'm not getting any closer to Itachi. What the fuck am I doing? _Some smartass side of him said, _Waiting. That's all you ever seem to be doing. Waiting for the opportunity to kill Itachi. Waiting on your laundry to suddenly do itself. Waiting on a sensei that doesn't care about you. _

Sakura was bored. She'd been sitting in this classroom for an hour and a half, waiting on a sensei that was probably messed up in the head in some inconspicuous fashion and had taken to some kind of trashy novel to distract himself from his misery. Actually, she knew this. A few years ago, on one of her post-training midnight strolls, she had met a drunken ninja passed out in a seedier alley of Konoha. Taking it upon herself to help the man home, he had dropped a little black book just outside of his apartment. His door was closed already and the shinobi was probably already unconscious again. She had taken the book. In it was a list of ninja to watch out for—their rank, their used and known jutsus, a list of their precious people, a thumbnail sketch, and little quirks that could further identify them. It hadn't become useful until team assignments. At the mention of her sensei, she had taken out the book and, using the handy index, looked up "Hatake". Sure enough he was in there. Iruka had given her an imperceptible nod of approval. _Good work,_ his look seemed to say. _You're not going through this blindly._ In the present time, Sakura and Inner Sakura smirked; _Let's see what you're worth, Hatake-sensei. _

* * *

When Hatake Kakashi walked through the door, he was suspecting three angry faces. Instead, he saw a spaced out Uchiha. A few rows behind him, Haruno was reading something that looked suspiciously like… a Bingo Book? Kakashi's lone eye stared at the pink haired girl. As if moving through thick syrup, the girl looked up and met his eye with a lax glare. Slowly she raised her book. From across the room he could see his tiny likeness. Written across the page in bright red were the words: Icha-Icha? His eye closed in unashamed agreement. The Haruno female just nodded.

Looking around, Kakashi wondered where the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was. A faint clacking noise alerted him to the presence of a tiny body just near his feet. All he could see of the person was a veritable storm cloud above what he deduced to be the head of his third genin. He wondered how he hadn't noticed him in the first place. _Come to think of it, I never hear about him making waves anywhere. Where does he even live?_

Naruto's eyes peered up from the storm, brilliant blue and slightly glazed with disappointment. Kakashi was taken aback. He'd known that his sensei had a child, but he hadn't expected it to be the shadow jailer of the Kyuubi. With the blond hair and sans whisker marks, he could be the twin of a young Yondaime. But his nose was different. His lips were fuller than his teacher's had ever been and his jawline reminded him of someone… Who was Minato-sensei's wife again? Someone loud… and obnoxious… Eh. It wasn't too terribly important. It could wait—especially now that his cute genin had opened his mouth to speak.

"Hatake-sensei. Where have you been?" Naruto asked, slightly depressed that once again, he was the last one noticed.

"Oh you know…" Kakashi gestured vaguely. "Around."

"Hn," grunted Sasuke.

_Around, my ass, _thought Sakura.

There was a tense moment of silence as his cute genin eyed him. He stared back, body relaxed and mind open. _Oh dear, it seems the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife._ He smiled behind his mask.

"Well, meet me on the roof in five minutes." Not wanting to be there anymore, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The Haruno, Uchiha, and Uzumaki shared a look. After a moment of three-way telepathy, they made their way to the open window, climbed onto the ledge outside and climbed to the rooftop.

* * *

"So!" Kakashi said cheerily. "Tell me about yourselves! Like, dislikes, the likes of all that and what not." Silence met his words. It seemed like his cute genin were giving him the silent treatment. _How nice. They're already working together. _

"Hatake Kakashi," started Sakura, reading from a little black book. "Age: 25. Occupation: Shinobi, former ANBU member, codename Inu, for your ninken summons. 1,141 completed missions. Dislikes: Being photographed without his mask. Likes: _Icha-Icha Paradise_, written by Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin." She stored the book in her kunai pouch.

"Personally," she said quietly. "I believe your codename should have been Crow, since your name means scarecrow, but that is neither here nor there, since I don't give out the names."

Sasuke covertly stared at the girl beside him. _Does she know about Itachi too?_

"As for me. I am Haruno Sakura. I wish to become a medic-nin. I like umeboshi and I dislike spicy food and sakura trees." She bowed from her sitting position. "I look forward to working with you all. Take care of me."

Kakashi appeared unfazed. He nodded at Naruto. "You next."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and potted plants. I dislike unobservant people and vegetables. I want to become the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Unit. Nice to meet ya."

Sasuke didn't wait to be told. He had weighed his word carefully before saying them. Of course, he couldn't come out and say that he wished to kill his rouge brother at the first opportunity possible. That would only get him locked up in the lowest pit of the prisons of Konoha; he would never get out, let alone get the chance to kill his brother. No. If he defected from the village, it had to be so that no one even knew he'd been planning it. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes and I dislike laundry. I want to be a shinobi."

There, that would suffice.

Kakashi gave his genin an eye smile. He liked this group a lot. If they could pass his test they could be something great. He figured that he would somehow have to put a muzzle on the Haruno or take away that book of hers, but that was okay.

* * *

"Let me tell you something," Yuuhi Kurenai said to the three teens standing at attention before her. "If you pass this test I am about to give you, you will officially become genin of Konoha. Meaning, you will officially be able to drink, earn your own money, and live on your own. Your civilian rights will be forfeited. You will work ungodly hours. You may turn sterile; Hyuuga, you might miscarriage every child you might have. You will be exploited. You will be shinobi, if you pass my test."

She sat down in front of the Aburame a ways away. She met his eyes hidden behind shades, then the eyes of the Inuzuka to his right, then the lilac eyes on his left. Kurenai closed her own vivid irises.

"Do you understand?" Her question lingered in the air. She could see the slight shake of her Hyuuga's shoulders, the ramrod straight back of her Aburame, and the bob of the Adam's apple of her Inuzuka. Poor kids. They were scared stiff. _Come on, don't be cowards. Let my first genin team be my best,_ she prayed silently.

Hinata's stomach roiled as she tried not to dry heave. She knew that the job could get rough but was she ready for this? She'd barely gotten through her fight with Mizuki and he was just a chuunin. There was always the option of staying another year at the Academy. Kiba was having similar thoughts and feelings. Inside his coat, right next to his heart, Akamaru's little body was burning up, his heartbeat racing. _So you feel it too, huh?_ Shino's kikaichu had skittered off into some part of his body. His logical mind was hazy with an unfamiliar feeling of panic. If he messed up his sleeping habits, his kikai could turn on him and his teammates. Was it worth having the potential deaths of the people surrounding him on his hands?

Kiba didn't trust his voice. He nodded sharply, Adam's apple bobbing again as he swallowed. His face was slightly pale as he felt Akamaru's silent whine against his chest. His visage was void of its usual easy confidence. _Good._

As if coming to his senses after Kiba's nonverbal announcement, Shino said, "It would be illogical to stay in the Academy for nigh on seven years and suddenly forsake all that we learned because the current situation becomes toilsome. We attended the Academy to become shinobi. We are fully aware of what we're enlisting in."

Hinata's hand searched for Shino's sleeve, cementing her agreement on his words. Kiba gave a large, if tremulous grin. Kurenai raised an eyebrow, letting the silence stretch on before she uttered, "Kai."

Hinata's stomach calmed down. Akamaru shivering stopped abruptly. The fog on Shino's mind lifted. _Genjustu, _they thought as one. Kurenai was nowhere to be seen. They were on the field of an unfamiliar training ground, from the looks of the posts and sand pits in various places. About 50 feet away, a woman with eyes the color of blood was sitting on the ground, watching her genin.

"My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I will be your Jounin-sensei. And you, my dear genin, have passed my test." She watched her pupil's dumbfounded expressions with a smug feeling in her chest. In a fluid motion she was on her feet and standing in front of her new team.

"What do you know about the Bingo Book?" she asked them.

"It's the book full of shinobi to watch out for, ne?" asked Kiba, absently scratching the dog perched on his head. The others gave general nods of assent.

"It's filled with the statistics of dangerous ninja, written by ninja who have encountered them. All shinobi in that book have some kind of bounty on their heads. If their head is returned to their native village or Daimyo, the bounty can be collected," added Shino.

"T-There a-a-are c-c-companies w-whose goals a-are to k-kill the people in the b-books."

The kids nodded firmly at their sensei. Kurenai smiled inwardly. She addressed her students. "Are they all the same?" Silence.

"Where do they come from?" Silence.

"Who _makes _them?" Silence.

Her students just looked at her. "What shinobi unit makes the Bingo Books?" she clarified. More silence. She took a breath, starting to pace back and forth in front of her team.

"The reason you cannot give me an answer to the question is because there is no shinobi unit that collects data to make the books. There are no printing companies that make the books. Do you understand?" At this, she slid her red eyes toward the person in front of her—Hinata.

"S-S-S-So t-t-the B-Bingo Books a-a-are all d-different—"

"And," Kiba continued. "they're all handwritten by the shinobi who encounter the people in the books, but since they're different—"

"The information may conflict those in existing Bingo Books, or omit essential details that could conclude a fight against two ninja." Shino finished.

"K-K-Konoha c-could l-l-lose s-s-s-s-shinobi t-that could've s-survived e-e-e-encounters i-if they h-had t-the right—"

"Data, which no one is collecting. So your reason for getting an Inuzuka, a Hyuuga, and an Aburame on the same team is—"

"You wish for us to accumulate the data needed to produce venerable copies of Bingo Books."

Kurenai nodded. "The Bingo Books are a good idea. However, since they are all different, some data in books could be outdated. A leaf-nin in the books could die and people in Suna wouldn't know the difference. It's an inconsistency that we shinobi need to fix." She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, her hand rising up to rub the spot between her eyebrows. "Your job will get dangerous. When others start to notice a pattern, they will target you. This job will be riskier than being just a regular reconnaissance team. I will ask you again. _Do you understand?_"

"Hai," said Hinata. Her lavender eyes met Kurenai's with all the steel of a kunai.

She grinned something awful at her genin. "Doesn't the idea interest you though?" This time all that answered her was the hard gazes of the three teens before them. Kurenai repressed a shiver. _You know, Sandaime-sama, I really think… that we have to secure the loyalty of these children this year…_

Yuuhi Kurenai moved to stand in front of Shino. She crossed her arms in approval. "Good." _If we don't and they go rogue… they'll kill us in our sleep._

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma was not at all impressed with his genin. They had passed his shogi test by the skin of their teeth. The Nara was a lazy ass with a smart mouth. The Akimichi wouldn't do anything without the Nara and the Yamanaka…

"Shouldn't you be teaching us?! We passed your test, _Asuma-sensei._"

She was damn annoying and she needed to stop calling him so familiarly. "I'll start teaching you tomorrow. There's something important I need to tell you." Asuma gestured for them to follow his example as he settled himself on the spot of grass. He placed his hands behind his head and stared into the clouds. He felt his genin settle around him in similar positions. They waited for him to speak as he cleared his throat. _Damn, when is Kurenai when you need to explain things to people?_ Obviously not with him.

"The Yamanaka," he started. "Specialize jutsus that control the mind—particularly genjutsu and soul ejecting jutsu. They're usually good-looking, intelligent, and have a high success rate on the missions they're on."

From the corner of his eye, he could see Ino puff up in pride. "The Akimichi are large people that use their body fat as extra sources of chakra. They enlarge their body parts as needed. In wars, they cleared fields of enemies with a single swipe of their hands. The Nara are a clan full of unnaturally smart individuals. They usually hold seats as advisors to Hokages, ambassadors to other countries, and other strategic positions in other shinobi departments."

Chouji was imagining the image that Asuma painted, in awe of what his ancestors had done. The Nara was half asleep; he was bored to death. _Oh, what nice clouds._

"You three are from three great clans. And you're shaming them unabashedly." He said bluntly. Ino started to whine in protest. "Yamanaka-san, you come from a clan that are renowned for their mastery of the human mind. They are intimate with the responses of humans in reaction to stimuli. Even the civilians of your clan usually become some kind of physiatrist. However, you act like you don't come from such a clan. You are brash, loud, conspicuous, and you need to change out of those clothes. Purple, really? That just won't do."

"Akimichi-san, your father is an independent man. He runs his clan well and he is a great leader. On occasion, I have been on missions with him. He was the best man to follow. I would've thrown myself off a cliff if he told me to. So why, _in Kami's name, _are you following after a young twig of a Nara? You could crush mountains, Akimichi-san, if you trained hard enough. Even for an Akimichi, _fat_ is only good if you have muscule behind it. Your punches will lack force if you don't start lifting some weights."

"And Nara? Nara, I know your mother. Get your shit together or I will fucking _tell her you've been slacking off_. I like to veg out on my couch, I like to play shogi and generally slack off. I am sure you do as well. However, you need to step up to the plate. Your indolence will make you lose something important, believe me—be it in personal relationships or your missions. Your failure will be all your fault."

Asuma sighed. He didn't feel like cloud watching anymore. He sat up and languidly pulled out a cigarette. He stuck it in his mouth and lit it. He blew out a stream of smoke before he spoke again, "I understand your fathers were a legendary team whose teamwork was rivaled by no one. _But you are not your fathers._ While I want you three to specialize in capturing enemies safely, the thing is, when you become chuunin, you need to have something uniquely beneficial to bring to your teams. We will work on this as well." He took a long draw from his cigarette, held the smoke in for a few seconds, before letting it out.

"You will wake up at five in the morning. You will convene at Training Ground 117, where we will then work on your individual strengths. At eleven, you will have a light brunch before we begin to work on your teamwork. At two, you will report to the Hokage's office to be assigned missions. From that time until six, we'll be doing missions. At seven, we'll meet for barbecue." Asuma looked up to the sky after sneaking a glance at his genin. He was surprised to find their eyes riveted on him.

"The shinobi life isn't for everyone. My goal to get you to survive and become chuunin. This won't be easy. I ain't guaranteein' you shit and hell, one of you might lose a couple a limbs. So I'm giving you a chance right now; are you in or out?"

"Why just chuunin?" asked Chouji. Asuma fixed him with a stare.

"'Cause I want you three off my hands as soon as possible. When you become chuunin I won't see your idiotic faces half as often." This earned him a smile from all his genin. Asuma sighed as he stood up, beating at the grass on his pants. _Looks like they're not leavin' anytime soon._ Well, his halfhearted attempt to get them to abandon ship wasn't his best. He kinda liked them—when they were quiet.

"It seems that Ino needs a new set of clothes." With that, he started to walk away. He was about ten feet away when he realized that his little ducklings weren't following him. He looked back at them.

"Come." They scrambled to catch up to his long legged strides as he kept walking.

"Ne, Asuma-sensei," started Ino. Asuma's eyebrow twitched. _Damn brat, it's Sarutobi-sensei! Sarutobi! _"Can I at least have fishnet in my outfit?"

"If it serves as armor, full body weights, and the cure for cancer, sure." A sweat drop covered half of Shikamaru's head.

He watched the back of the man before him, the broad shoulders and spiky black hair. He watched the smoke rise lazily up to pollute the air. A sash was tied around his waist.

"Oi, should a shinobi really be smoking?" he asked. He watched as Asuma waved away his suspicions with his free hand.

"Nah, not really." The genin shared a look and a couple quirked eyebrows.

_Asuma-sensei… how could he be the Sandaime's son? He's so mean! How could he say no to fishnet?!_

_Asuma-sensei… I'll have to ask my father about him._

_Asuma-sensei… ya damn slacker. _

"Oi, brats, stop thinking. We're here at the shop. And Ino, don't worry about the bill. It's on me."

_But… I kinda like him._

* * *

The sun dawned early the next day. Naruto's eyes shot open and stared at his cracked ceiling. He yawned loudly and rubbed feebly at one eye. He stared at his ceiling again before rolling out of bed. His nose wrinkled at the smell of cheap ramen seasoning and… was his milk spoiled? Not again.

He made his way to the bathroom, picking up ramen cups as he went and depositing them in the trash can by his bathroom door.

"A test. Another test. Why aren't we done with them yet?" he asked his empty bathroom. He shucked off his clothes and entered the shower.

_Why didn't I pay my heat bill? The water's freezing!_

* * *

Naruto was pouting again. His sensei had come hours late, dattebayo. He was hungry, dattebayo. He could've been sleeping, dattebayo. "Our sensei sucks. Dat-te-bay-o." he said quietly.

He startled his teammates. "Uzumaki, quit doing that!" Sakura clocked him in the head. Naruto fell facedown into the dirt in front of a training post he'd previously been perched on.

"I-Itai, Sakura." Naruto looked at his teammate entreatingly. Sakura shook her fist at him and he flinched. Sasuke just blew some of his bangs out of his face. _At least I started on the laundry before I left._

Sakura was not amused with her blond teammate. He acted very much like her deceased twin. She didn't tolerate his antics and she wouldn't tolerate Naruto's.

Just then, Kakashi shunshined into the clearing. His students just looked at him, unfazed. The next time they wouldn't show up so early. They would sleep in late, eat a large breakfast, and probably do some extensive stretches before they came to meet them. Kakashi could see it in his cute genin's eyes. They were lazily leaning against the training posts, Sakura's hand idly tracing the red ribbon around her neck.

"Well, it's nice to see you all made it!" Kakashi eye smiled at the teens in front of him. "Now all you have to do," He stuck his right leg out and shook it. The two bells attached to his leg tinkled. "is take this little ol' bells from me and you pass! The one who doesn't get a bell doesn't get lunch or a promotion to genin! Are you ready? Go!"

Red and blue blurs raced for the tree line. All that was left was his blond student, Naruto. He sank into a loose stance, signaling his intent. Kakashi slid one leg back in response, hand sliding out to get out his beloved _Icha-Icha_.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Slowly, he reached up to take off the goggles that covered his hitai-ate, slowly sliding it up his left arm. He'd never liked wearing his goggles when he was training; the weight and constriction of them across his forehead threw off his concentration. Then, he was gone. Kakashi's eye slid around. _Where will he come from? Behind, below, my blind side? _"Lesson one…" Kakashi started.

Naruto's leg came down with all the vengeance of a drill. _Above. What an interesting approach. _Naruto's kick was heavy. The gravity had given it more power than his normal ones. He transitioned into a back handspring the moment he saw his leg get stopped by Kakashi's forearm. Kakashi followed him, pulling a punch with one hand while looking miraculously interested in his book. Naruto dodged sloppily, abruptly dropping to the ground. He swung out his leg to try and trip his sensei. The man just jumped into the air.

It was Naruto's turn to follow. He swept himself into a handstand before twisting his body. The result was a kind of two-legged whirling kick that caught Kakashi in his back. It would've worked too, if his foot had met a human being and not a log. Naruto recovered from his whirl-kick, flat on his back. His blue eyes widened before he threw himself to the side. Kakashi's fist dented the ground where Naruto's head had been. Naruto's back met the training post.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto was on his feet and flying at Kakashi again. Kakashi just stood there, seeming to do nothing. At the last second he stepped to the side, allowing the boy to hit the floor. Kakashi winced. _Ohh, that had to burn. _The boy had skidded a few feet before he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Oh dear," Kakashi sighed dramatically. "Naru-chan, this was supposed to be a taijutsu match only."

On the ground before him were a pair of forest green goggles.

Kakashi left them there, padding off to find his next victim.

* * *

Sakura was covered in leaves. She disliked this. Leaves were annoying; they got in her hair, under her clothes, and in her mouth. As she belly-crawled through the undergrowth, she spat out a mouthful of the green stuff. She froze as she heard footsteps. That couldn't be Kakashi, could it? Assessing her options, she thought it best to reveal herself. Two things would happen if she did: she would be alone in her part of the training ground, or she'd take whatever Kakashi threw at her.

"Lesson two: Genjutsu." said Kakashi. He dissolved into leaves that disappeared on the breeze. Sakura just stared at the spot he'd vanished from. If he wanted to see how she reacted to things, so be it.

Out from the tree line came a pair of green eyes. Pink hair and a strong, slightly lanky build for a thirteen year old boy. He had a beauty mark on his cupids bow. She had always been envious of that little dot, even when they'd been eight. She smiled at the illusion before her.

"Ichirou. It's nice to see how you would've looked, if I hadn't killed you," she whispered wistfully to the image. It flickered slightly as she approached it. She lifted a hand to run it through his sleek hair, mussing it just the way Ichirou had liked it. She watched her hand make its way down to his soft warm cheek. Her other hand lifted to the ribbon around her neck. "I still have the ribbon, you know."

She laughed harshly. Look at her, talking to the image before her as if it would reply. As if this was her brother, her twin. She patted his chin, unaware of the tears brimming around her eyes. Then she punched it, choking out, "Kai."

Her chakra release was nothing but a dot on Kakashi's radar. Even if he was a sensor type, her pulse of chakra used to dispel the genjutsu wouldn't even register. That was one of the results of her training. Another was that she never let her tears fall. That was not to say she was angry. Oh yes, she was very angry. Sakura was a hot-headed person. She would admit it. But she could, with great willpower, redirect her anger. Somehow, the redirection of her anger made her mind sharp, clear. So very very…

Sakura grinned at nothing. _You stupid scarecrow, I get it now. _

* * *

Sasuke was halfway for the signs for Katon: Goykakyu no Jutsu when he noticed a pink haired blur charging for him. The Haruno hooked her pale arm around his neck, sweeping him off his feet and back into the tree line. The dropped him to the ground and he glared at her.

"Sakura, what do you think you're doing? I could've gotten the bells off him if you'd given me a chance—" he said with a hint of emotion behind his voice.

"Uchiha Sasuke, in accordance to other the other students of the Academy, what was your score in cooperation?" she interrupted him. Sasuke just stared at her, uncooperative.

"You were ranked last, Uchiha-san. Do you even know why cooperation is graded in the Academy?"

Sasuke just glared at her. "It's because teamwork is important. Uchiha-san, I don't like you. You're cold and distant and you have no respect for anyone. But I'll kill you if you make the rest of your team fail this test because you ranked last in cooperation."

"She's right, you know," said one Uzumaki. He was cross-legged next to Sasuke, senbon swishing in his mouth. He grinned at his teammates. "I can't believe I didn't see it until Sakura pointed it out. Ne, arigato!"

_Sakura can sweep me off my feet with one arm and Naruto can sneak up on people without anyone being the wiser? What can I do? _

"So, we should start making a plan." Sakura concluded. There was silence on everyone's part as they tried to formulate a plan.

"I could engage him in combat first," offered Sasuke. To his chagrin, Naruto chuckled.

"Don't hurt yourself, Dead-Last. As if we'll let you lead the charge when you weren't even prepared to work with us." Naruto's eyes met Sakura's. "And besides, I'm 100 percent sure Sakura already has a plan."

She nodded. "Hai. Naruto, you—"

A bell rang somewhere. In a puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared behind his genin. His eye crinkled in a smile. "Time's up!"

Later, when they had proved to Kakashi that they understood what he'd been trying to do, Naruto looked over at Sakura as if he'd just really seen her, "Hm? Sakura, did you know there is a leaf on your forehead?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. That was Naruto's only warning before she knocked him spreadeagle on the ground. She stepped on his immobile body as she made her way back home. _I wonder what my mother made for dinner tonight._

* * *

No one was tied to the post that day. They were allowed to keep their headbands. Permanently.

What was to be known as the Rookie Nine was born.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Are you excited to see what happens next? I am. I'm waiting on this story as much as you are. Happy holidays.


	5. 4: TO NAMI

Chapter Four: TO NAMI

_Kakashi stood with his back to his genin as he kept his nose in his beloved _Icha Icha_. _

_"There's something I want to discuss with all of you." He said, nose delving even deeper into his book. He really wished he was more like Obito at times like this. He had always known when and how to say something inspiring. He could hear his genin shuffle impatiently behind him. _Oh, it seems I have a bunch of hotheads this time round. _Well, they could wait a little as he gathered his thoughts. _

_On the pretense of "gathering his thoughts", he read a couple pages of the infamous orange book. The hero of this book in the series seemed to get in the most compromising positions. Where did Jiraiya find the inspiration for this? He giggled at the possibilities. His eye widened as he reread a passage, a slight pink blush rising to his cheeks as he absently wiped away a thin line of blood from his nose. Was that a real position? Perhaps he needed to do research of his own. _

_A throat cleared behind him and he was suddenly aware of the burning glares on his back. "Ja!" Kakashi sobered up. "I wanted you three to know… I don't really want you to become good shinobi."_

_Silence followed his words. "I want you to become mediocre ones, like myself." Even more silence. Obviously, his cute genin didn't feel the same way. Why would they want to be in the same league as some pervert?_

_He sighed, closing his precious book after marking his page. "You see, good shinobi, really good shinobi, become mindless. They are almost robotic in their thinking; their minds are centered on one thing: complete the mission." Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the sun. _

_"But in the scheme of things, missions really aren't all that big of a deal."_

_His eye crinkled as he finally turned to look at his genin. "Completing the mission no matter what. Sacrifice your teammates for the sake of the mission. Kill if you have to. Maim, break, and torture if it means that the mission is completed. Never question your superiors—just follow. The mission. The mission. Successfully complete the mission or don't bother returning to the village."_

_"Things like this are wrong."_

_"We're shinobi. There will be some things that will be impossible to compromise—like killing someone. However, to lose all your mercy, to be unable to function in a social gathering. To succumb to insanity and end up in an asylum or exiled… just for the sake of completing a mission. That is the price of being a good shinobi. That price, in my humble opinion, is too weighty. It's heartbreaking to see shinobi, to see people, lose themselves—_all for the sake of the mission._"_

_"I… don't want to see my students grow up like that. Good shinobi… compromise their happiness to become good. And great shinobi? They lose their humanity."_

_His one visible eyebrow slanted down ferociously. "So don't you ever, as long as I live, become good shinobi. Or I'll kill you myself."_

* * *

That had been yesterday. His words had haunted his genin, leaving them all to drift like leaves in a wind current to different parts of the village. It was here, in Naruto's pensive state of mind that he happened upon a certain clearing.

The girl he had met the other day was sitting cross-legged off to one side of the clearing, the leaves overhead creating a dappled pattern of sunlight and shadows across her face and down her tan jacket. Her eyes stood out, looking into the distance while two of her fingers touched the ground. With her other hand, she was drawing random figures into a space stripped free of falling leaves. Her face was peaceful and open. Naruto smiled softly. _What a quiet soul. _You would've never noticed her, if not for those pearlescent eyes that stood out eerily from the green surroundings.

Naruto was extra-quiet. He wanted to surprise her. He crept quietly near. His gray clothes and the feline way he moved made him seem more animal than human. Even his bright hair seemed to dim when he deigned to become quiet. He smiled again. He would scare her out of her wits. Her startled face, he'd decided, was the best.

He was nose to nose with her when her eyes refocused on him. Though they didn't have pupils, Naruto had the uncanny sense that _yes_, the girl had transferred all her attention on to his person. Softly, just a teasing wind against his lips, she greeted him.

"Hello, Uzumaki-kun." Her voice was void of her usual stutter, something that puzzled Naruto. Was she just that at peace right now? Was she just that comfortable with him, already? He shivered excitedly. Maybe they would be friends. Best friends.

"Hello, Hinata," he greeted back, somewhat ungracefully. She gave him a small smile. Tiny. It was not so much as a showing of teeth as a slight upturning of her mouth. Her fingers stayed glued to the earth beside her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Naruto. Her eyes went out of focus for a second before she blinked.

"T-T-Training."

Naruto was disappointed to see the stutter come back. _Just when I thought she was getting comfortable…_ He was quiet for a moment. Her eyes had gone unfocused yet again. He wondered what kind of training this was.

"Ano sa, Hinata?" he said hesitantly. He loathed to interrupt her, but he needed to talk to someone. Her eyes let him know it was okay to start speaking.

"Mediocre shinobi, ones that hold onto their emotions, are better than good ones. What do you think of that?" he asked. She looked thoughtful.

"M-Mediocre s-shinobi are g-good human b-b-beings. Shikashi, i-in the p-p-profession t-they f-f-f-follow, i-it is better l-l-let g-go o-of t-their emotions…" She paused, thinking. Her hands lifted from the earth and the sunlight and shadows draped across her chest shifted as she changed her seating position.

"I-I believe t-t-the q-question is, do y-you wish to be a b-b-better h-human or an e-even better s-s-shinobi?" Naruto found himself captivated by the image in front of him as Hinata tilted her face to the obscured sun above. The light that trickled down caressed her face lovingly, giving a healthy glow to her skin. _What a lovely, lovely girl. _

"I will a-always w-want to be a b-better h-human."

* * *

Sakura stepped into her house, quietly shutting the door behind her as she said, "Tadaima."

Her father, Kizashi, was putting on his shoes in the hallway. He looked up. "Ah, okaerinasai, Sakura-chan." He waited as she vacated the hallway before he stepped toward the door, his large hand grasping the small handle. Sakura watched as her father, with his dull pink hair in that horrid shape, inhaled deeply.

"I'm leaving!" he shouted. She watched his broad back deflate as all the air left his lungs at once. With her experienced eyes, she could pick out the knots in his back. He shouldn't work so hard. He was getting older; time would be harder on his back. In that moment, she could have said something—something that would let her father know that she was worried about him. Instead, she just let him go out the door with a soft, "Come back safely."

Her father and she rarely saw each other now. Whenever he came home, she seemed to be leaving and whenever she came home… he was halfway out the door. More and more, she found herself leaving through the window and the back door. Anything to get away from the forlorn glance that her father would give her just before she escaped. They were growing farther apart every day, it seemed. She found herself telling him less and less of her day, and many times, she just didn't come home, choosing to fall asleep in the training grounds at the end of the day.

She told herself that she was trying to make it easier, to make it so that when she left, her father would be used to her absence. What a lie. She was running, running like the guilty murderer that hasn't been caught yet.

She walked through the door, repeating her greeting to a picture on the wall. "Okaeri, Kaa-chan." She kissed the blonde haired green-eyed woman's picture. Her mother sat underneath the grove of cherry blossoms, grinning at the camera while one of her hands lightly played in the grass just in front of her. Sakura remembered that day well; it had been the day that the first three sakura trees were planted in their backyard. Her mother had been thrilled. Ichirou and she had been amazed to watch her mother kick off her shoes haphazardly before running to skip around the trees. Her father had waited until she had collapsed, tired and bright-eyed from her escapade, before he snapped her picture.

She glanced around the living room. It was clean, the low table clean and the tatami mats flat on the floor bare of anything except for some plants in the corners. It seemed that her father had tidied up before he left. She was inwardly thankful. With all her training and missions (and running), she had neglected the chores that had originally been hers.

She passed by the living room, opening a screen door that led to the grove of sakura trees behind their house. She took one step at a time, her breathing coming a little harder with every foot deeper into the yard.

Past the thriving cherry blossoms, past the little lake full of tadpoles that had suddenly turned up one day. Past the birdhouse her father had built, to the place where she had murdered her brother. The root they had tripped over was still as gnarled as it had been when…

She chuckled bitterly to herself. Now she was afraid to admit she was a killer? How stupid. She took out a vial wrapped around her neck. She pulled the cork out with her teeth, spitting it out somewhere farther into the orchard. She held the vial over the tree's roots. Every day, she made her way here, took out the same vial, and spat out the same cork. Every day, she held a lethal herbicide over that same sakura tree.

She sighed and went to search for the cork.

Every day, she could not bring herself to kill a sakura tree when it had done nothing wrong.

"Ichirou," she breathed as she slid down the sakura's trunk. She could feel his presence here, always. "It seems that I am only able to become a mediocre shinobi."

She felt a caress against her cheek, the image of an eight-year-old boy flickering across her vision. His eyes glittered in the soft pink light that filtered through the cherry blossom's branches again. They were starting to shrivel up and die now. "But," Sakura said wistfully. "You wouldn't want be to become a good shinobi anyways, ne?"

* * *

Naruto's eye twitched. He was standing in the damn Hokage's office yet again, waiting for another _lame_ D-rank mission, dattebayo. He was thankful that his sensei had decided to skimp on tons of these D-ranks and really focus on training. However, they still had to complete one small mission every other day. The majority of his time was spent training.

Completing laps around a field with weights around his ankles, wrists and knees. Weights on his shoulders and around his stomach. Dodging and evading kunai with aforementioned weights. Completing katas of a taijutsu style while a river against the current (with aforementioned weights). Sparring with his teammates on the sides of trees with weights. Completing flexibility exercises while leaves adhered themselves to his body with his chakra and wearing his weights. Sleeping with said weights.

Not to mention completing missions with his weights on.

It is not that he hated the training (well, he hated the flexibility exercises—his whole team did) but he was so tired of those weights. They just sat there on his body, making him uncomfortable and sometimes making the muscles in his arm tremble when he tried to lift his carton of milk. He had thought that his personal training was hard. It turned out that he had focused so much on chakra control that he neglected the other areas of jutsu. And the taijutsu was killing him. He dreaded the day that Kaka-sensei decided to start teaching them in the ways of genjutsu.

He would die. His weights would be buried with him.

He wanted something that would distract him from the drag of his weights. He wanted something moderately exciting. He was not expecting them to go do something fantastical, like escort a princess back to her country, but he just wanted a change. Surely, he wasn't asking for much, right?

It seemed the Hokage agreed. His female teammate promptly hit him upside the head when he addressed the Sandaime as "Oji-chan", whispering furiously to him that it was not proper and that he had no sense of respect for authority figures.

He was pretty sure he could not spell authority, he had whispered back, amused that she would openly hit him in front of Oji-chan.

The Hokage just laughed, the wrinkles in his leathery face standing out even from the shadow of the infamous Kage hat. An eye peeked out from underneath, dancing merrily in the little light it reflected.

"Very well," he said, bemused. It was clear that his old ears had overheard Naruto and Sakura's conversation. "It just so happens that I have a C-rank mission available. Tazuna-san, would you please come in?"

A large man swept into the room. His black V-neck shirt contrasted the white towel around his neck and he didn't bother to take off his pointed tan hat in the presence of the Hokage. Bleary, almost sleepy, dark eyes peered from behind a pair of oval shaped frames. His beard was gray and his body was unevenly tan, suggesting a job that required a hideous amount of time in the sun. Naruto shivered, excited that he was getting his wish.

Yatta!

* * *

"Oi, bridge builder, don't trail behind," said Naruto quietly as he passed the old man. Tazuna's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm a _carpenter, midget._" Naruto nodded to him, conveying with his eyes: _touché. _

They were on their way to Nami, the bridge builder's home country. He had been evasive, pondered Sasuke, when he had given the reason he needed protection when he came to Konoha so easily. Seeing as he was an expert at lying by omission himself, he could easily tell that something fishy was going on. He had shared a brief glance with Sakura, conveying his disbelief when the bridge builder failed to specify what exactly they were supposed to be protecting him from. She signed to him that she had already noticed this.

Though the Uchiha resented submitting to the Haruno, he understood that she was the best qualified to lead their team. She was strongest, physically and mentally. He… had an aversion to contradicting her. There was something that simmered under her veneer; something that told him that giving her his usual crap would get him beaten into next week. She was fairly unlike the way she had been several years ago—just a bit shy, girly, and a whole lot of rough. He also dimly remembered a boy, with hair just as pink, and eyes that shone even brighter than hers did…

Kakashi was reading his precious perv book, like always. Sakura was taking point and Naruto was side by side with the bridge builder. He was bringing up the rear. By a split second, he saw them first.

A pair of lanky men connected by a chain erupted from the trees, heading directly for Sasuke. He jumped closer into their path before easily picking up Tazuna and bodily throwing him towards Naruto. He didn't watch as Naruto caught him. He let the thump of flesh hitting flesh assure him that he had indeed caught the projectile he had aimed at the blond. In quick succession, he threw a line of shuriken at the holes in the chain before sending a line of kunai after them. They drilled into the chain, sending the chain back into the trees behind the duo.

As soon as the first shuriken had hit the chain, the two missing-nin had pressed buttons on the sides of the monstrous gauntlets they wore, detaching the now-useless chain. In a spurt of speed, they were past Sasuke and heading toward Naruto and Tazuna.

Zipping in between them, Sakura drilled a gloved fist into the side of one's face. He fell down hard. The extra force added by her weights only made the hit heavier. The man swept up from the ground and tried to claw her with his gauntlet. Sakura fell back as Sasuke took her place, somehow balancing delicately on the wrist of the man before kicking him full in the face. For a second, Sakura was stunned at the dexterity that move had taken. She snapped out of her daze to race after the other man who had taken the chance to get past her and closer to the bridge builder.

Using a frugal amount of chakra, she performed a quick Kawarimi with her last teammate.

Naruto felt the touch of Sakura's mouth on his ear saying fiercely, "Take care of that last one for me. I've got the bridge builder." Then he felt the most curious feeling of being the object of a substitution jutsu. For a moment, he pitied the logs that leaf-nin usually used for the technique before reaching out and grabbing the arm of the man that was rushing past him.

The man had to weigh more than a few kilograms than him. His momentum made Naruto dig in his heels before throwing him over his shoulder. The force behind his throw was devastating; the missing-nin found that all the air in his lungs gone suddenly as his body dented the ground below him. He could see the little body that had thrown him in front of him. Desperately, he kicked out with his feet, hoping to catch his opponent and send him sprawling.

Instead, he found himself staring into a pair of wide, blue eyes set in a tan face. Yellow, spiky hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes, creating eerie shadows on the visage of the whiskered boy on top of him. In his eyes… in his eyes…

He saw that if he did not keep still, _right now_, the little demon would easily skin him and leave him for the crows. On the other hand, incinerate his body, since that is what shinobi did; they left behind no evidence.

A slow clapping drew the attention of the boy perched on his chest, though the kunai at his neck pressed down warningly.

"Banzai! My cute genin didn't die!" said a one-eyed jounin with unruly spiky grey hair. His one visible eye was curled up into a smile. When the man saw him, he immediately lost any leftover color in his skin. This was Hatake Kakashi. There was no way he was getting out of this alive.

A pink haired blur knocked Kakashi one in the head. "Baaaka. I can't believe you left us hanging like that. Did you think we wouldn't see you disappear into those trees like you did?" The pink haired girl went on for a bit more before turning to the man that Naruto had pinned to the ground. Sasuke was dragging the other one to the group as if he was carrying a club too big for him.

Seeing as he was the only brother still conscious, Sakura's face went blank as she recited their passage from the Bingo Book.

"Oni Kyodai. Missing-nin hailing from Kirigakure, thought to be somewhere in Mizu no Kuni. Excellent users of coordinated attacking. Gauntlets are poisoned." She stopped abruptly, hair shadowing her eyes.

"Daring to call yourself demons when you just were defeated by three genin. How pretentious." She said coldly. For a second, Naruto and Sasuke were clearly able to see the girl that had been nicknamed "The Ice Queen" somewhere back in their Academy days. Oh yes, she definitely still had it.

"Jaaa!" said Kakashi, trying to change the subject. His one eye slid to the bridge builder. "You have something to tell us, ne Tazuna-san?"

* * *

Sasuke was unsympathetic.

He really didn't see what the man thought he was doing. The villagers of his country obviously didn't think; what would happen when Tazuna got back to the village? If he was Gato, he wouldn't kill Tazuna while he was on the road, no, he'd wait until he was working on the bridge again. Why waste manpower and effort like that when it was easier to just kill him on more familiar turf? Surely he realized that all they were supposed to do was escort him back home—that this was all they were told to do by their Hokage? In an even bigger picture, did he not realize what he had done for rest of the people in Nami that might seek help from Konoha?

Hidden villages were fussy about the missions that they took. Even then, they considered their clients representatives of their countries. If the clients overrated or underrated their missions and the villages suffered from it, the entire country was blacklisted for a six-month window. All mission requests from that country would be turned down as soon as it came to light that they were from that country. This obviously was an underrated mission. Did Tazuna have any idea what he had done to the people of his country?

Sasuke did not understand civilian logic.

Naruto was having similar thoughts, if not in so many words. He couldn't believe that people were too proud to even explain their financial situation if they couldn't pay for a mission. This could have been taken care of by ninja more experienced than them, people that were way more likely to get out of a skirmish with chuunin or jounin ranked shinobi.

Sakura felt the start of a migraine as they continued to walk along the road. She understood Tazuna's reasons for failing to tell them everything, though she disliked that they were caught off guard. She was glad that her team had ultimately decided to continue with the mission. Now that they were prepared for it, she was sure that her team could handle anything that Gato threw at them.

They could do this. They could do this and live. She felt it in her bones.

* * *

_How strange_, thought Naruto as he lugged Kaka-sensei's heavy body to Tazuna's house. _I really thought that hunter nin were supposed to dress the body right where they found it. _He was surprised at the choice of weapon that hunter nin used as well. Senbon were very sophisticated tools; if made small enough, they could also be used for acupuncture as well. If _he_ were a hunter nin, he'd at least use a kunai to slit his throat. That way he would know for sure that his prey was dead, judging from the amount of blood that would run from the cut in their neck. Whatever. To each his own—he'd heard the saying somewhere.

What followed next were a flurry of polite, fake smiles and hasty meetings as they met Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, and caught a glimpse of his grandson, Inari. Naruto settled Kaka-sensei on the futon they had laid out for him. Afterward, he stayed in the room, unsure of what exactly to do. He was strangely adverse to meeting new people; they always seemed to forget he was there more than familiar ones. Having been alone all his life, he was a bit hungry for talking to people but at the same time, wary of it.

He felt like a jumbo shrimp at the moment. A hypocrite.

He shook his head furious from side to side, sending his hair into even more disarray. This was ridiculous, brooding as if he were Sasuke or something. He was better than this, stronger too! He'd go in there and dazzle that old man's daughter and grandson, dattebayo!

He walked into kitchen, where they had all gathered. Like clockwork, he made his way to inconspicuous corner of the table and listened to the conversation.

"Tazuna-san," Sakura was saying. "Do you think that we can stay here, onegai? We need a place to lay low. I'm hoping that Gato does not notice that we've arrived in Nami yet. If we, three children and an unconscious man, checked into an inn right now, the clerks would have to assume that we were shinobi. Gato has to be monitoring the inns in the area. If the clerks reported that shinobi checked in, he would start to get suspicious. His grip on the community would tighten."

Tazuna, arms crossed and tan hat off, nodded solemnly. "I understand your concerns. I am glad to see that you are all taking this seriously when—"

"—when you compromised the safety of three young people and almost ended the life of a spry man in his mid-twenties?"

Tazuna only closed his eyes.

Naruto spoke up. "Your apologies are understood, but you don't need to feel guilty about what happened. This is our job, Tazuna." Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari were surprised to find that the boy was sitting quite comfortably between mother and son. _There's a fourth member of this team?_

Sasuke only hn-ed. Sakura's eyes softened as they swept over the tense bridge builder, his flustered daughter, and the sullen grandson.

"We're shinobi, but we're humans as well. We'll do our best to help you."

Naruto grinned. "Dattebayo."

* * *

"It seems that we've been… _had_," said Kakashi dramatically. He paused for more effect. The ninja was slightly disappointed when his genin (not team, because it was_ entirely _Sakura's) didn't bat an eye. He figured that they must have gotten together while he was unconscious to discuss what had happened with Zabuza's sudden defeat. Obviously they had come to the same conclusion he had; the hunter nin was a fraud.

"The points that he hit on Momochi's neck were points that put the victim into a deep sleep. However, the side effects make the victim too weak to move for at least five days, assuming they are under the age of seventeen. However, according to the Bingo Book, he is 26. Let us estimate that we have approximately seven days to recuperate and regroup. Let's start. Naruto."

Naruto, who had previously been standing quietly in line with his fellow teammates, was in front of Kakashi in a second. He knew that his team would watch him complete whatever task he set out for them. Kaka-sensei had explained his reasoning behind this, saying that if he broke up the teams to teach them separately, it would be detrimental to the teamwork dynamic of Sakura's team. (He failed to notice that _yes_, he thought that the team was distinctly _Sakura's _and utterly _not _Kaka-sensei's.)

His sensei's eye smiled at him. "Have you ever heard of the Kage Bushin?"

"No, but I wanna learn it –ttebayo!" He was tired of having clones that were half-bald.

* * *

Naruto was splayed out in some copse of trees. He had finally mastered the Kage Bushin Jutsu. It had only taken him couple hours, but it seemed that it still was too slow. His whole team felt the pressure to exceed their limits in such a short time frame. That hunter nin and Zabuza. They were on a whole 'nother level than them. If they had any hope of helping Tazuna build this bridge, they really needed to step it up.

He was anxious and slightly afraid.

Naruto closed his eyes, brilliant sapphires hiding from the world. _Get yourself together, Uzumaki._ He was sort of disgusted with himself. What had happened to his simpler times? When it was just about stealing a couple of bucks to buy some food? When he didn't have all these obligations and the possibility of death seemed so much farther away from him? When he didn't know the world outside of his safe little bubble of Konoha?

These people, he realized now, needed so much more help than a bridge. A child, when he had went into the village, was being beaten in the street by three armed men. In his tiny, skeleton hand, was a small piece of raw meat. The blood from the meat had dribbled from his hand as the boy coughed up bile as he curled into himself. Naruto had moved to help him before he saw two other small children scuttle to the child. The little creatures had caressed the boy's black, dirty hair, presumably murmuring words of comfort.

The child had lifted his head and smiled a hideous rotten-mouthed grin before holding out the piece of meat to them. The hungry things had snatched it, quickly devouring it.

Naruto had rushed to them at that point. Careless of the bile around the three, he had pulled out Gama-chan and a large pouch. He had dumped all his money into his pouch, offering it to the three children. The poor things had looked at him, bewildered. He had set it on the ground, before pulling out a couple handkerchiefs. He had licked them before tenderly cleaning each of their faces, pretending to ignore their trembling as he wiped at their cheeks, their foreheads, their chins, and eyelids.

What he uncovered was the loveliest shade of brown skin he had ever seen.

Naruto groaned as he put a hand to his own forehead. _How could a man condemn children to such a life? They were scared stiff!_

Naruto stiffened as he felt someone's presence creeping up to him. He wasn't a great sensory type or anything, but he knew the stare of curious eyes anywhere.

He opened his eyes to meet the shameless stare of… a man? A woman? With long black hair, brown eyes, and a pretty, yet possibly masculine face, it was impossible to tell the gender of the person. _Why did he always meet these androgynous people?_

"Oi," he muttered lowly. "It ain't nice to stare –ttebayo. I already feel like crap. You don't need to make me feel like I'm in a zoo, dattebayo."

He gave the person a quick glance. Pink and red with a simple white obi. Yes, he'd believe that this person was indeed a girl, because in Naruto's mind, there was no way a man would be caught _dead_ in pink.

"Ne, what are you even doing here anyways?" Naruto stuck out one petulant bottom lip.

The girl gave him a pretty smile. "I'm collecting herbs for someone… precious to me."

Naruto's curiosity was piqued. "Someone precious?" _Boyfriend, _he thought immediately.

The girl smiled disarmingly at him, eyes going slightly dreamy. "Yes. Someone that has given me a purpose in life. He's sick in bed right now, and these herbs will help ease his discomfort."

_Someone that has given me a purpose in life…_ that sounds less like a boyfriend, Naruto reasoned. He shook himself out of his thoughts as the girl opened her mouth to speak again.

"I want to protect the person important to me… I want to work for that person. I want to fight for that person. I want to make that person's dream come true… That is my dream."

_Yeah, _Naruto decided. _Definitely not a boyfriend._

"Dream?" he echoed. He found himself repeating after her like a broken record. The girl nodded fervently.

"You have a dream, don't you?" she asked, leaning in slightly, like they were partners in crime. Naruto nodded.

"I want to become the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force," he said.

"Why?"

Why? That was a stupid question. Naruto sat up and stretched his legs out to face the girl directly. "So I am the first one to come into contact with the threats that come to my village. I feel like that is my best way to protect everyone precious to me in it."

The girl locked eyes with him, seeming to be searching for something. She nodded to herself as if confirming something. "You'll achieve your dream. You have the will to protect in your eyes."

Naruto just blinked. "Will to protect?"

_"_When a person… has something important they want to protect… that's when they can become_ truly _strong_." _

Naruto just chuckled a little. He reached up to flick the girl in the forehead. "Duh, I already knew that. Baka."

The girl just smiled and rose gracefully to her feet, basket over one arm. She made to leave the for the world outside the cozy gathering of trees before Naruto said, "My name is Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet ya!"

The girl turned back to him. "Haku. Oh, and Naruto-san?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm a boy."

Naruto looked on, shocked as the boy made his way out of the trees. He sighed and threw himself back onto the ground.

_Why do I always meet people that could pass for boys and girls when I'm surrounded by trees?_

* * *

I don't own Naruto. Forgot to mention:

Reviews would be appreciated.

Thank you for reading, as always.


	6. 5: CONFLICT!

Chapter Five: CONFLICT! THE battle at the Unfinished Bridge

Sasuke was annoyed. The idiot grandchild of the bridge builder had thrown what was basically a temper tantrum, claiming there was no way in the world that they could beat Gato. The kid was sitting there now, arms crossed defiantly. Sasuke's eye moved to the empty space on the table. His blond teammate was somewhere. He just up and vanished. Usually the dobe would take cases like this; he had a knack for connecting with children. _Where are you when your talents are actually needed? _Sasuke thought wryly to himself.

The boy's eyes, however… Inari's eyes were something that he could identify with. The eyes of someone that has lost a person precious to them. Those haunted eyes that always met his when he looked in the mirror. Sasuke just rested his chin on his folded hands, careless of the cold plate of food in front of him. His eyes searched the faces around the table: Sakura's irritated one, Kakashi's watchful eyes, Tsunami and Tazuna's sad eyes, and now, Naruto's angry ones.

What was he doing here, helping a child that didn't appreciate it? A child that had the same eyes as him, but didn't understand that he had the chance to kill the one that had killed his precious person? Gato was closer to Inari than Sasuke currently was to Itachi. Did he not see the opportunity, _the blessing_, that was just in his reach? Something dark and dreadful reared its head as Sasuke's eyes bored holes into the wall opposite of him. At least _Inari_ had a chance at the man who had done him wrong. At least he was _close._ But _no,_ the child was sitting there, _throwing a fucking temper tantrum_ when Sasuke would _murder_ for the slight chance that Inari had.

The Konoha shinobi wouldn't even help him _find_ his damn brother. _Uchiha-san is too powerful. We would lose too many ninja_, the Sandaime had said pleasantly the one time Sasuke had asked about tracking down his brother. But his eyes had been slightly jumpy, his answer just a bit too readily available for Sasuke to believe the Hokage's words. And Inari, he actually had four shinobi (albeit _three_ inferior ones) that were willing to help him fight against Gato, and he was _complaining?_

_Apparently, _thought Sasuke darkly. _The stupid kid hasn't seen enough death. If he had seen a couple more people precious to him, if he had lost his grandfather and his mother… _Suddenly, the room was a little darker and Sasuke was seeing the corpses of the people around him.

Tsunami's neck was wearing an violent purple bruise. Her eyes had rolled back to their whites. Her hair was stringy and dull. Placed delicately on her lap was her father's still pulsating heart; he could hear the slight _dub-lub _of the organ. Tazuna's chest cavity was opened, the jagged pieces of red flesh vibrant against his black shirt. His hat was placed over her face in an obscene way, as if he just snoozing instead of dead. His white, white ribcage shone, wide and gaping. The lungs rose and fell shallowly, inhaling and exhaling. Again, Sasuke heard the _dub-lub _of Tazuna's heart. His wide eyes moved hesitantly to the youngest member of their tables.

His arms were still folded. His head was severed from his body with what looked like a dull knife. The blood had dried as it gushed from his neck, leaving his slightly tanned skin a dull brownish red. His head sat in his plate of food, a puddle of congealed blood covering the entire dish. His face was drawn into an ugly grimace._ Dub-lub._ Sakura's body wasn't even at the dinner table; it hung from a ceiling. The red ribbon around her neck had been her noose. Her eyes stared, empty, at him. The green that usually sparked so brightly had dimmed a veil of death over them. _Dub-lub._

Naruto's body parts were only littered around the table. An arm here. A leg there. A tuft of yellow in Tsunami's plate. As if it were the centerpiece of the table, Naruto's headless torso stood proudly in the middle of it, the unremarkable gray of his shirt vivid with still wet blood. Sasuke could smell the coppery taste of the substance from his spot at the table. _Dub-lub. _

_Dub-lub._ Kakashi, burnt black, his mask never removed and his eye crinkled up in a horrible imitation of his eye smile. His orange book was on top of his bald head. From his seat he could see the blood that the pages had been doused in, rendering the entire work illegible.

_Dub-lub. Dub-lub. _Sasuke had forgotten…

What that his heart, or Tazuna's, beating so rapidly?

Breathing coming quickly, Sasuke looked down into his own plate of food, a sense of foreboding rises out of his gut.

One of Naruto's blue eyes stared at him.

Bile rising swiftly, he clapped a hand to his mouth. He found himself in a new setting; the place where he had watched his parents die, the moonlight shining so peacefully into the dark room, just illuminating the back of his brother. Suddenly he was small again, watching helplessly as his brother sheathed his blade, making his way to the door.

"Aniki," he breathed, hand stretched to… To what? Stop him? Hurt him? _No, kill him._

What was he doing here? Saving the day, like he was some kind of superhero? He was no closer to Itachi. Why was he doing this again? No. there was no reason. He had gotten lax with himself. For a moment, lulled by the false security his teammates had given him—

"Sasuke. Sasssukkkkeeeeeeee." He felt a poke in his cheek. Naruto was crouched on the dinner table. Everyone else had left earlier, leaving Sasuke to just stare into space.

"Oi, oi," said Naruto's husky voice. "Teme, teeeemmeeeeee." His poking became insistent. Sasuke deflated in relief as Naruto's hand stopped poking him. That relief was only for a second before he was socked full in the face. Sasuke tumbled out his seat, spread eagled on the ground. He lifted a hand to his jaw.

"Omae," he started darkly. Just then, Sakura entered through the door.

"Get up, lazy bones. Tazuna-san is starting on the bridge again. You and Naruto have guard duty."

"Ehh?" Naruto exclaimed quietly. "But we just did it the other day!"

Sakura's vein popped in her forehead. "Oh, do you have a problem with that Uzumaki-san?" she smiled intimidatingly. "I'm sure you can just take a break and spar with Kaka-sensei and I instead."

Naruto's face paled, before he took off through the open door, pulling Sasuke behind him.

"Ne, Sasuke," he said seriously, later when they were guarding the bridge, watching as the builders steadily made progress. Sasuke glowered out at the workers, his mind still dark and heavy, the _dub-lub_ sound of a phantom heartbeat occupying the space in his brain. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts he failed to be surprised at Naruto's sudden appearance.

"What?"

He turned to face the Uchiha. "Don't space out like that anymore, 'kay? It ain't healthy, believe me, I used to do it all the time."

The dark-haired boy just watched him disinterestedly as he summoned several hundred clones to help Tazuna build his bridge faster as well as a few extra to keep watch. _As if he could understand. _"Hn."

Silence fell over them as they watched over the people of Nami.

* * *

Hinata was at peace with the world. She was sitting near a tiny man made stream on the outskirts of the Hyuuga compound, her legs shunted off to one side gracefully as she stared out over the landscape. Unlike many places in the compound, this place was _green_. Yes, it was wonderful. Usually the gardens of the Hyuuga were not gardens at all, but plots full of small rocks or sand that was raked into predictable, uniform patterns. But here…

Here was the place where her mother's headstone lay. Her body, somewhere else, presumably cremated, and her ashes buried in a private Hyuuga cemetery. She glanced fondly at the headstone. It was a simple, roughly hewn marble slab. Nothing was written on it, nothing to mark that _yes_ it was placed here in memory of her mother except Hinata's knowledge. Grabbing at a handful of leaves, she blew gently at them, scattering the golden leaves onto the water, watching as the slight current lazily carried them to who knows where.

Hinata wished she had actually known her mother better. When she was younger (able to slip away from the legion of [Caged] branch members assigned to watch her), she used to come here and just play in the stream, to see if she could catch any of the tiny silver fish that frequented it, to just play and generally be a child. On the shore, she would always imagine that there would be a woman with long, indigo hair and a kind smile, standing there waiting for her to come out with a warm towel.

She was always disappointed when she staggered out the water, with a smile for a lady that was never there.

She smiled nostalgically to herself. _I would like, _Hinata thought lightly, _to get a chance to know my Haha-ue. _

She stiffened before relaxing again, calling out to her brother-cousin. "N-N-Nii-san."

He was standing respectfully behind her in the next breath. "Hai, Hinata-sama."

Hinata waved her hand at him. "C-Come s-s-sit w-with m-me."

Unable to object her invitation, he sat down next to her, wary of the ex-heiress. He became irritated as she let the silence between them grow. Why was she doing this? Was this some kind of subtle power play he was not versed in? His irritation stewed for a while before he put a lid on it, turning his silver eyes to the stream, watching the golden leaves float on the current. The silence reigned for some time as Neji's mind became blank, filled with a quietness that came with watching the landscape. By no means was he suddenly calmed by the view before him; nature had never been his acquaintance.

Seeing as Hinata had yet to speak (_probably never will,_ he scoffed to himself), Neji took this opportunity to train. He closed his eyes and activated his Byakugan. Many Hyuuga tended to do this when meditating; they tried to use their still state to see the world around them in its entirety. Neji, however, was not meditating, he never meditated when doing this training exercise. His turbulent mind never quieted enough for him to completely be at peace with himself.

"Seven. Seven birds," he said to the girl beside him. She smiled at him, knowing he could see it with his Byakugan.

"Perhaps," she said lightly. Neji absently noted the absence of her stutter. Hinata took a breath to start a conversation.

"Nii-san."

"Hai, Hinata-sama?"

She took a handful of leaves into her hands, gently stroking them before blowing them out onto the water. "It seems that the Hyuuga elders have approved Hiashi-sama's request."

"Request, Hinata-sama."

Her eyes positively danced as she glanced at him. "Hanabi-sama will be Hyuuga head."

Neji's eyes widened. Hanabi? Hyuuga head? She was only eight, much too young to be bent to the elder's will so that all will remain 'good' and 'whole' between the Main and Caged branch members. On rare occasions, he had spoken with Hanabi; she was just a little girl, regardless of being a Main branch member, who needed a father and a sister. What were the elders, no, what was his _uncle thinking_? _And why in the world did Hinata-sama look so happy?_

Hinata just chuckled and slid a leaf deftly behind one of his ears, her hand coming to touch the hitai-ate that hid his defect from the world. He refused his urge to flinch but stood strong, eyes boring holes into her own, daring her to do anything more. He would not let a weakling touch him; he would never want the Main branch ex-heiress to ever put her hands on him. She would have to activate his seal first. Her eyes stared back placidly (feebly, in Neji's eyes) before turning away.

"Tell me, nii-san; do you worry for this clan?" Neji could not answer, shocked that a Main branch member would ever worry for anything. Her eyes had darkened, turning that pearl shade into the lightest lavender. Her _oh-so-bare_ brow was furrowed and her lips a thin line.

"I do." Hinata turned her eyes to him.

"I worry," he started hesitantly. "for the Caged branch member whose seal was activated the other day. I worry for the Caged that was forced to bed the Main branch civilian woman two days prior. I worry for the children in the Caged compound that are too scared to laugh, to play, and run as children should. I worry, Hinata-sama, I worry for the state of a clan that is run by a man that would sacrifice his twin to save his own head. I worry, Hinata-sama, but I do not worry for the Main branch, no." Hinata refused to meet his eyes, seemingly interested in the secrets of the stream, but Neji could see her hunched shoulders, the nervous _tap-tap_ of her fingers against the ground. He could see the trembling of her lips and the glossy sheen of her eyes.

His voice, choked and grieving and _angry_, rushed out in a breath. "Hinata-sama, I worry for the Caged."

Silence. "Nii-san, do you wish to change things? To shake them up so much… that things can never go back to the way they were? To make it so that the Hyuuga would never be caged again? So that things… everything 'Hyuuga' and 'good' and 'whole' would be suddenly _wrong,_ and words, words like family and _love_ and _dreams_—" Hinata stopped, eyes turning starry at the image of a _new _Hyuuga, a clan where words like family and love and dreams were casually said. Her daydream was interrupted as Neji shot to his feet, a storm brewing in his face.

"This is why," he started in a hushed, tight voice. "I worry for the _Caged_, Hinata-sama."

His voice crashed down around her like the sound of the gavel, judging. "Because the Main branch is too _blind_ to their transgressions, to busy _daydreaming_ to see that things will _never_ change, that the fate of the Hyuuga is already _sealed_, you see. The Hyuuga won't change, because we have sealed our fate long ago, the moment we put a burden on our brethren, we were _damned._" Neji took a breath to compose himself, taking a sick satisfaction in seeing Hinata curl into herself. Oh yes, she was weak enough to flinch, unlike him.

"I worry, because while we Hyuuga are damned, at least the Main branch is _free._" With these words, he turned away, leaving a melancholy Hinata behind.

She turned her face to the white marble headstone, the only thing she really had of her mother. "Oh, nii-san, if only.." she started. But there were too many _if only's, _too many to name aloud and so she named them in her head.

_If only you weren't so stubborn…_

_If only your eyes did not spark so brightly, and the fire behind them didn't burn so brightly…_

_If only you were not so strong…_

_And oh so worried. _

Her mouth turned up wryly at her next thought. _If only I had never picked up those fuinjutsu scrolls…_

Hyuuga Hinata looked to the sky, finding solace in the sun. _If only, if only, nii-san, if you were not _you…

_Then I would not be sorely tempted to make you Hyuuga head._

"Haha-ue," she said to the headstone, though her face was turned to the sun. "Would you be proud of me, if you knew what I am planning to do? W-Would i-i-it u-upset y-you? T-t-to k-know t-t-that i-it i-is my g-greatest d-dream? T-To c-change this sad clan?"

All the confidence that Hinata had once had as she spoke to her nii-san had disappeared into the depths of her soul, like the golden leaves that had floated down the stream's current, going to Kami-knows-where. Her nii-san was gone, her mother dead, her father and sister too distant and cold to acknowledge her. Yet, all this did was fuel Hinata's determination, to change her clan, her family, her _people. _She might be alone now, but soon, _soon_, she would be surrounded by people to would see her worth, Byakugan or no. She was a sad, lonely girl.

But she was a sad lonely girl with a _dream_.

* * *

"Sasuke."

Sasuke opened his eyes from his catnap to find himself staring into the eyes of his team leader. Her green eyes stared back at him. A lock of pink hair fell across his nose, making it twitch as Sakura moved away. Her eyes were a serious jade. Sasuke blinked to clear the fog from his mind. "Hn?"

She backed up and extracted her gloves from her pocket. She pulled them on, deliberately fastening them on with a single-minded intensity that smacked of an alert shinobi. Sasuke sat up and pulled his legs to his chest as he waited for Sakura to speak.

"We have guard duty today."

Sasuke blinked. "Who?"

"You, me, and Kaka-sensei."

"What about the dobe?"

Sakura sighed, bringing a hand to massage her (sizeable) forehead. "He's a little tuckered out from the last training session. He ran through drills with his clones until he was half-dead from chakra exhaustion."

Sasuke's lip lifted in a tiny sneer. "Heh. Just like him." He slowly stood up, lifting a hand to mess up his spikes before stripping off his shirt and pulling on a new one. Sakura had turned away, occupied with making sure that everything was everything in her bag. She pulled out a vast array of kunai and shuriken, sorting through the pile carefully, making sure not to prick a finger.

The silence stretched out uncomfortably as Sasuke waited for Sakura to voice her thoughts and Sakura just counted her kunai and shuriken, sharpening the odd one. Sasuke turned away to look into his own pouch, procuring a roll of tape before settling himself against a wall. He started to wrap his knuckles, down to his wrist and halfway up his forearm. He tore off the tape with his teeth and started his other arm.

"Count your shuriken, count your kunai, and straighten out your ninja wire and all that," she said tersely. Her eyes looked to the open window, though she really wasn't watching the clouds. Just to be sure, Sasuke took a quick glance out the window. Nothing was wrong; the sun was shining and the distant sound of waves crashing against the shore was just audible. His black eyes observed Sakura silently, noting the absence of her red ribbon and the corded tendons just under the surface of her neck.

Let the record show, reader, that Sasuke was just watching her, in the same way that a scientist would observe the mysterious substance in a petri dish. His vigilance was not one of a teen in love or lust, not one of a doting brother or teammate. No, his gaze was a cold fascination with the way Sakura was on edge, the way her form was a stretched rubber band; the tiniest push would make her snap.

"Ahh," stated Sasuke. He moved away from the wall, shuffling back toward his pack.

What went unsaid was the strange silence from the direction of the bridge, the absence of the chirping birds and the single murder of crows that flew by.

The next time Sasuke turned around, Sakura was gone, probably to tell Tsunami and Inari that they would be leaving a bit early. He turned right back around, to the pile of ninja wire tangled on his futon. He sighed.

He really wished that he didn't, but he had a bunch of ninja wire to untangle.

* * *

Kakashi's nose twitched as he stepped onto the bridge. The entire bridge was eerily silent. Bodies were placed as if they had been doing regular construction jobs before something killed them. They had died in the same positions. From the smell, it looked as if they had been dead for about two hours already. Kakashi's eyes darted around the unfinished bridge, taking note of the clear path that led them to the middle of the bridge. The unspoken thought was shared by the three ninja: _Someone has been waiting for us. _

Just then, a body stumbled out of the thickening mist, looking haggard. Sakura's eyes widened as she recognized the person.

"Tazuna-san," she breathed in relief.

The old man's eyes were scared, his pupils dilated as he reached Sakura, placing his hands on her shoulder. His clothes were wet and dripping, _ping, pinging _onto the ground below. His hat was missing. Covertly, Sakura made the sign to end genjutsu. She nodded to her team when nothing happened. Sasuke and Kakashi relaxed slightly, only to tense again as the mist rolled in thicker and heavier.

"I just barely made it—hid under some loose planks at the last moment. When they started to look, I slipped into the water under the bridge," Tazuna's voice rasped along the length of the bridge. He was starting to show signs of shock. His hands, still on Sakura's shoulder, were limp and clammy. He was slowly losing all the color in his face. Sakura placed her warm hands over his, trying to bring him back to reality as he slipped further and further away from it.

"Tazuna-san," she said.

"So many bodies… so much red, it ran into the water below the bridge… don't you know, I was swimming in the blood of my workers…"

"Tazuna-san."

"Red, red, what an awful shade of red…"

"Tazuna-san!" Sakura's voice turned into a pained gasp as she quickly turned the two of them about, taking the attack meant for Tazuna in her back.

Suddenly everything was clear to Sakura. There were three capable shinobi on this bridge; she and her allies would be fighting a virtually unknown, stronger enemy. They had an object to protect. She was injured, perhaps not too severely, but enough that it would be a hindrance in battle. So that left two capable shinobi to fight an unknown, stronger enemy while she guarded the object. They also were out of their element; the mist was making everything difficult to see and Kakashi-sensei had not yet taught them how to safely rely on their other senses. Sakura took out a freshly sharpened kunai from her pouch and the last coherent thought that crossed her mind was that she was glad that she had left her red ribbon at home; Ichirou had given it to her and she didn't want it to get dirty.

Ignoring the pain in her lower back, she took one of Tazuna's arms and reached down to grasp one of his legs. In a swift movement she was standing again, most of Tazuna's body across her shoulders and her arms over his appendages. Then she sped away, nearer to the entrance of the bridge where she hoped the mist had thinned out some. In her place she left two bushins, one transformed to mirror Tazuna.

Panting she pulled from her pouch some medical tape, hastily wrapping it across her waist to stop the bleeding from the wound on her back. Then she took a paper bomb from the same place, wrapping it around the hilt of her kunai. She closed her eyes and waited. _I only have one shot at this; I have to send the flare up while the enemies are engaged. _

Back in the thick of it, Sasuke was frustrated. He couldn't see anything and he didn't have his Sharingan, so he couldn't even see chakra signatures. He was virtually blind. He edged closer to Kakashi, his back touching his sensei's, before he muttered, "Sensei."

"Hai?"

"This mist… has got to go."

Kakashi's eye smiled as he started to make signs. _I'm glad we're on the same page. _He stopped after a flurry of hand activities, landing on the sign of Tori.

"Futon: Daitoppa."

A howling wind tore through the mist as it thinned greatly. Kakashi breathed in sharply as the chakra loss hit him. He had not mastered Futon, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

It was just in time, too, because several Mizu bushins of Zabuza were making their way over to the duo.

Not hesitating in the slightest, Sasuke threw a single fuma shuriken. It zoomed past the clones before Sasuke yanked on the wire attached to it. It sped back to face the clones and Sasuke quickly dropped the wire, making the necessary hand seals. The fuma shuriken multiplied nicely, one shuriken in the back for each Zabuza clone. They collapsed into a pool of water.

"Come on out, Zabuza and hunter nin-san!" Kakashi's voice echoed playfully across the bridge. Sasuke's knees trembled slightly before he locked them together as two forms emerged from the deeper parts of the mist.

"Ne, ne, hunter nin-san," mocked Zabuza. "It looks like we've been found out."

The masked ninja just tilted his head to the side. The white, thin crescent moon eyeholes and the red swirl across the face of the mouth gave away nothing. Sasuke stepped to stand next to Kakashi, moving on leg back to anticipate any sudden action.

"Haku." Zabuza said. Wordlessly, the hunter nin flashed past Kakashi, stopping briefly to attempt a hit at the Tazuna bushin. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. The shinobi sped on to the entrance of the bridge, no doubt sensing the two chakra signatures there. He didn't even bother to dispel the Sakura bushin. At the same time, Zabuza leaped forward to slice at Kakashi's shoulder. The jounin blocked it with the metal plate on his fingerless gloves. The impact created an outbreak of sparks. Zabuza leaned in close as Kakashi did the same.

Zabuza laughed. "What fun! Let's play together some, ne, Kakashi-chan?"

Sasuke cursed as he sped to keep up with Haku. He charged forward, discarding his weights as he went. He skidded in front of Haku, barely breathing hard.

"Don't."

The fake hunter nin just tilted his head, before disappearing. Sasuke disappeared as well, stopping in front of the ninja again.

"Don't. You will not get past me."

Haku sighed behind his mask, pulling out two heavy duty senbon as Sasuke sunk into a taijutsu stance. He was very antsy to get this job over with. He didn't want to kill anyone; he didn't even want to kill the bridge builder. But it would have to be done.

Haku sank into his own stance, the message very clear in his body language: _Very well._

The two boys both shot forward to meet each other.

* * *

In the mist, blind and slightly shaken, crouched a pale Sakura. She hated the feeling of humidity clinging to her skin, to her hair and clothes. She hated that every breath she took felt like breathing in syrup. She hated that she was on the outskirts of the fight when her teammates were in the thick of things. She hated that her wound was itching and that she had decided to ignore it to stay alert to any threats.

Right now, she hated a lot of things. But what she really hated was the fact that she didn't know how her teammates were faring.

She was blind and with a single civilian currently in shock.

She was alone.

* * *

Oh ho ho. How intriguing.

Is anyone interested in becoming a beta?

Naruto, I believe, is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Thank you for reading.


	7. 6: HAHA-UE, AM I free now?

Chapter Six: HAHA-UE, AM I free now?

Naruto's eyes opened at the sound of a scuffle, blue orbs staring hard into the ceiling above. He had always been a light sleeper, but woke up even quicker when yells and the sound of masculine grunts interrupted his rest. Rolling out of his futon, he rose to a kneeling position, hurriedly grabbing his pack and rubbing his eyes at the same time, trying to get rid of the crud on them.

He blinked, slowly standing up and allowing his head to adjust to the sudden change of waking. His eyes traveled around his room to the window outside, idly noting that there were no sounds coming from the bridge and the absence of the friendly sound of chirping birds. His ankle weights chafed against tender skin as he took steps to the window. Naruto, as if moving through honey, raised his leg onto the windowsill. One disembodied hand opened the window slowly and a cool, gentle breeze touched his clammy skin. Then, he was out the window and flying down the road, toward the now-louder grunts and the shrill yelling of a pre-pubescent child.

Not hesitating in the slightest, Naruto punched the thug, who was holding Tsunami's arm rather roughly, sending him sprawling. The unnamed, unwashed thug's head hit the ground hard. The other thug didn't even have time to comprehend what had happened to his partner before he, too, found his head acquainting itself with the unforgiving ground.

"Ne, Inari, how does it go?" a casual Naruto asked, foot planted firmly on one of their attacker's head. Tsunami and Inari stared at Naruto, rather relieved.

But as the relief faded and Inari looked a little closer, he could see the slight trembling of Naruto's arms, hands hidden in his numerous pockets, but he was sure they were trembling too. Naruto's eyes were a little too shifty, darting around, trying to take in everything at once. Naruto, Inari realized, was on edge and did not quite know what to do with himself.

Tsunami and Inari shared a glance. They were not _shinobi_, but they sure could tell when something was wrong with a person. They knew, no matter how much they would like to have the company of a ninja, they had to let Naruto complete his mission.

Tsunami gave a kindly, motherly smile. "Go, Naruto-kun. We're fine here."

Naruto nodded. With the next exhale, he was gone, running full speed to the bridge. _Just hold on, please be okay by the time I get there._

* * *

When Naruto got to the bridge, the first two people he met were Sakura and Tazuna. He was a bit concerned when he saw Sakura crouching in front of a pale and shaky bridge builder. He stopped for a moment to gaze at Sakura, who just nodded. _Go on, _Naruto imagined Sakura saying tersely. _Keep going. I'm fine, idiot._

The next time Sakura blinked, Naruto was gone, the mist swirling in his wake.

* * *

Sasuke had been reduced to one knee.

This was a position that he had never been in, not since that bloody night at the Uchiha compound. Sasuke's breath just stirred the mist in front of him. He was stuck in a cage of ice. His Katon: Goykakyu no Jutsu could not melt these mirrors. He hadn't gotten nearly enough hits on the hunter-nin as he wanted. The mirrors would not break and he was stuck full of senbon. He could feel the metal sticks grinding against his joints… With a grunt and a hiss of pain, Sasuke wrenched the senbon from his knee. As he raised his hand to take out the ones in his arm, the hunter-nin turned into a blur.

Sasuke's arms fell to his sides as he tried to ready himself for the clash. He could just see the white blur of the nin's mask…

Sasuke's eyes widened and flashed red for a second. He could have sworn he saw a gray blur, but with the blue-gray mist, he couldn't be sure. His suspicions were confirmed when the hunter nin's course suddenly changed direction. He jumped when he felt the queer sensation of senbon sliding out of his arm and elbow. With a brush of clothing and a swirl of mist, something moved in front of him.

Before him stood a boy with golden hair, not even muted by the lack of sun on the bridge.

* * *

"Onee-_sama._"

Hinata's head raised up from her seals. She watched the lean body of her sister through the paper door. Her arms moved up for a second and Hinata could just imagine her sister's arms crossed in front of her chest and the semi-cold expression of impatience on her face.

"A-A-Ah," Hinata said distractedly, head falling down back to her work. "C-C-Come i-i-in, H-H-Hanabi-s-sama."

Hanabi swept into the room with all the grace of a queen. Her chin was held high and her clothes immaculate; she looked _Hyuuga_. She looked out of place in Hinata's room, a room full of half-open scrolls and drying inked brushes. Intricate seals hung on the walls, seals on the windows and seals on the space where her futon should've been. Seals, seals, seals.

Hinata's head bent down, brush flying over the paper then cast aside carelessly onto the surrounding floor. Hanabi, slightly miffed that her sister failed to pay her any attention, bent down to pick up a paper her sister had just discarded. Her white eyes widened.

Seals. Seals galore covered the entire page. Little seals, big seals, diagrammed seals copied from another scroll. Hanabi only knew what she had been taught at the Academy about seals. The twelve written seals primarily used in fuinjutsu were basically hand seals interpreted into written seals. Then, there were a myriad of seals derived from the twelve original seals. There were also specialty seals used in conjunction with the derived seals. All the seals could only hold so much chakra and the placement of the seals, along with the medium they were transferred onto, made fuinjutsu the most tricky jutsu to master.

And what Hinata was doing…

Another piece of paper flew into Hanabi's other hand. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the contents of _this _sheet. There was the Hyūga Sōke no Juinjutsu, the Cursed Seal technique, in all its glory, diagrammed neatly except for the two lines on the side of the stylized x. Those had labels of question marks. Hinata had done it so fast, so quickly…

Chichi-ue needed to know about this. Now.

Hanabi drew herself up to her full height, hand stowing the sheet of paper in her kunai pouch. "I expect," she said, waiting for Hinata's head to rise. "That Hiashi-sama will request your presence very soon."

Hinata's eyes just looked to the ground as if searching for answers. "A-A-A-A-As H-H-H-Hiashi-s-s-sama w-w-wishes."

Hanabi swept through the still ajar door. Hinata watched her sister's strong jawline with a fondness Hanabi did nothing to deserve. _So much like Chichi-ue. Though not as much as Nii-san. _Hinata waited until her door slid shut gracefully before she gathered all her sheets of paper into a neat pile. She padded over to one of the seals on the floor. This one was a teleportation seal, though not half as efficient as the Yondaime's Hiraishin no Jutsu, that transported things to a marked area over the space of a few hours. Hinata walked around her sparsely furnished room, gathering training gi and fingerless gloves. She placed them along the papers. Next were her sandals. Her hair ties and medical salve supply. A pack of eight unused scrolls. Brushes and chakra conductive ink. And finally, Hinata placed a badly drawn picture of a family onto the growing pile.

It was the family that had died with her mother. Stick figures had been painstakingly drawn onto a small sheet of paper. Two female adults, one with a round baby suggesting pregnancy. They had labels: _Haha-ue and Kaya-san._ Two identical tall stick figures with long, brown hair stood slightly away from the females, arms clasped around each other's shoulders. Their labels said _Chichi-ue and Hizashi-san. _Next to one was a smaller imitation of one of the male stick figures. _Neji-nii_. The woman with the rounded stomach, _Haha-ue, _had an arrow pointed to her stomach and the lettering for the name _Hanabi_. Around these people were hearts and smiley faces drawn in what could only be the shaky hand of a three-year-old.

Hinata had drawn this the day before her uncle consented to his decapitation, head sent to Kumo in the place of her father's. She had been so happy that day, to be back with what she considered her precious people. Her elation turned to depression when she lost her uncle the next day, when she had to watch her nii-san's once expressive face turn cold. All because of a seal… and her.

Perhaps, Hinata mused sadly. That was when she got interested in fuinjutsu. She remembered thinking: _If it's a seal… then it can be broken._ She had seen what this cursed seal had done to her clan. She, she had decided. She was the only person with enough resources and determination to do what she believed was right.

Her resolve was only strengthened every time she associated with her immediate family.

With this on her mind, Hinata snatched the piece of paper off the pile, quickly making the necessary signs before uttering a quiet, "Fuin!"

Hinata sat in a mostly empty room, unperturbed for the most part. She sat there, thinking of idle things, inane and slightly superficial things. Thoughts and random images fluttered under the lids of her eyes, teasing her gently as Hinata tentatively sent out thin threads of chakra to the paper walls of her room. They attached themselves lightly to the painted paper, quivering ever so slightly with the most subtle changes in the air density.

These images, the deployment of the chakra strings, and the forced levity of her mind were all diversions Hinata used to distract herself from the heavier thoughts that crept upon her if she wasn't careful.

This was how Hinata fell asleep; on an empty, cold floor, she slept. Her slumber was one of the innocent; she slept as if she had no worries, as if she wouldn't have to face the disappointment in the eyes of her clansmen the next day.

So she slept.

Her chakra strings would alert her to anything noteworthy.

* * *

There was commotion. Not too much, just a slight pattering of fearful feet outside her bedroom door. Hinata's eyes shot open as someone slid back her door. She only needed to catch a glimpse of the figure before she pressed her forehead to the ground. Her head met the floor so quickly that Hinata was sure that she would have a bruise there in a few minutes.

"Rei-dono," she murmured into the floor. She tried to ignore the burning white eyes making a brand on her exposed back.

Hyuuga Rei was a prominent young lord in the house of the Hyuuga; his great grandfather was a member of the Hyuuga Elder Council. He was the owner of most of the stagnant Hyuuga rock gardens, controlling a large number of Caged Branch members that tended to the meticulous gardens. All of whom where male, young, fine strapping things that usually worked through any weather. In the summer they casted off their shirts, muscles rippling as they toiled over their surroundings. Rei-dono was an unmarried man, never even seen in the company of women. There was a rumor, whispered of course, that the venerable Rei-dono actually preferred the company of men in his private quarters.

For this reason, the Hyuuga before her had not ever risen in the Hyuuga rank and joined the Council.

Hinata imagined that this slight would make a man bitter. Though it was impossible to tell with eyes as cloudy as his.

Through the still active chakra strings, Hinata could almost "see" Rei-dono raise a hand to push his heavy shoulder-length off his forehead. His eyes were that pale, unforgiving shade of a Main Branch Hyuuga, though slanted like a cat. With his high cheekbones and thin lips, he looked every inch the feline. He moved with a panther's grace as he stalked further into the room. Hinata keep her forehead pressed to the floor.

"Hyuuga Hinata," he said. This was another reason that many Hyuuga believed he was unsuitable; his voice was entirely too soft to have an influence on an outspoken council. "You may raise your head to me."

Hinata raised her head slowly, finding herself staring at the white immaculate shoes of Hyuuga Rei. She refused to raise her eyes any further than his feet. Such a sign of disrespect would only spell out a harsher sentence from the Council.

"I was once," the man before her started. "your betrothed."

The sentence faded into the almost empty room. Hinata's head did not move. She told herself not to tremble, that the next time her voice rang out, it would be true and clear and _not Hyuuga._ She prayed to Kami for the strength to endure. She needed it, for the coming confrontation.

"I was to be your betrothed when you were Hyuuga heiress."

Rei laughed softly. His words fell like broken glass around Hinata's ears. Her chakra strings quavered with her resolve. "When you were six and I was fourteen, I saw you for the first time. A darling little demure thing, you were. Fairly beautiful, though nothing as heavenly as your mother." Hinata bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. It dribbled past her feet, _pat pat _on the floor.

Rei chuckled. His hand descended to tenderly cup her cheek, a sick imitation of a mother's caress that she had never known. Hinata stared lifelessly into the eyes of her fellow Hyuuga. His eyes were filled with mirth, with the joy that only comes with taking it from another. "Dear Hinata, where has the perfect little girl gone?" Hinata's lips parted, before she shut them closed.

Rei only sighed, before throwing her chin away from his stooped body. Hinata flew to a corner of the room as Rei scoffed lightly.

"The Council had wished to see you three hours ago. I would hurry, if I were you, my perfect criminal." With this, Rei-dono was out the door, but not before Hinata had something to say.

"That's right," Hinata said clearly, shakily rising to her feet and cupping her swollen cheek. "go back from whence you came. Go back to your beautifully sweaty men, back to the whispers and rumors that claim you are homosexual. Go back to this poisoned, rotten clan, back to the face of a father who does not want you, to a sister who has no love to give, to a dead mother—"

"I am not sure, Hinata," Rei cut in coolly, softly. "If you insult me or yourself."

Then he left. Hinata turned her back to her slightly cracked door. She felt a recklessness well up from her core, a fearless feeling of who-cares-I've-lost-everything-already appearing, rising to her head and making her delirious with its fumes. Hinata padded into her bathroom to bandage her face.

She had kept the Council waiting for three hours already. They wouldn't make a fuss if she made them wait a few minutes longer.

"Dearest Haha-ue in heaven," she whispered to the ceiling. "I am almost free."

* * *

The eyes. The eyes the eyes the _eyes._ They stared impassively on her shuddering form as she waited to hear their verdict. The lighting was dark, just slightly enough so that the eerie glow of her clansmen's' eyes were visible. Hinata kept her head bowed. That delirious feeling that she had once had dissipated. 68 eyes fixed themselves on her trembling form, and Hinata knew that all the praying the world couldn't have prepared her for this.

Not for the inhumane gaze on her head. Not for the feeling of slimy, cold caresses of the vigil of the uncaring. She hated it. She hated that she had the strength to defeat a rouge chuunin, that she had the courage to speak her mind to an influential member of her clan, that she spoke to her nii-san fearlessly, yet she couldn't weather the stare of the member of the Hyuuga Council. That she was shaken, shaken and scared to the core and there was nothing that she could do about.

"Hyuuga Hinata," said a disembodied voice. Hinata flinched, as if she had been hit.

"H-Hai." She swallowed thickly.

"For the transgression of disrespecting Rei-dono, for the sin of attempting to figure out the secret of the Hyuuga's greatest achievement, for the sin of dirtying the name of the great, collective _Hyuuga…_"

The list of official, yet somehow irrelevant crimes she committed dragged on and Hinata felt a courage welling up inside her. It was a peculiar kind of bravery, similar to recklessness, but fairly unlike the focused, recklessness coat of armor she had donned when speaking to Rei-dono. No, this was a lot more _unfocused, a lot more driven, _but with no particular aim_. _It was a slightly… _chaotic_ feeling.

Do you admit to committing these sins, Hyuuga Hinata?

A tiny, beatific smile graced her face as she raised her head. She caught the widening of eyes.

"Yes, yes I do."

Silence.

There was a sound like the gunshot. Hinata's arms were almost wrenched out of their sockets as two masked Hyuuga, unrecognizable but for the pearls shining in place of eyes. Hinata felt the slight touch of a hand on her forehead. Fire followed the path and Hinata screamed, agonizingly loud and unearthly. Her scream was that of the tarnished. Her scream was that of the fallen, the beaten, the black slaves of old, bucking against the hot iron on their skin and the chains around their necks.

Hinata screamed. She screamed the lament of the Caged.

"Fuin!" rang out the voice of a female. Hinata noted this as the pain stopped. She tried to memorize as much as possible in that single space of time, before she ducked.

A scythe sunk into the torso of the other Hyuuga restraining her. Hinata felt a switch go on. Her body reacted on instinct as she kicked the body of the other Hyuuga. She heard a feminine grunt of pain. She could feel the seal she had placed on her body sink itself into her opponent's stomach.

Hinata took this chance to breathe. She had perhaps a millisec—

Kunai flew with an uncanny sense of accuracy. Hinata refused to activate her Byakugan. It would only create more trouble in the future.

It was okay, this way.

Hinata focused.

The chakra strings she had attached to the wall formed a close knit net around her body. The blue strings glowed fiercely in the dim light as the Council activated their bloodline limits. What they saw amazed them.

Strings of chakra formed a round dome around Hinata, spinning in every which way. The kunai shunted off her barrier, simply diverted to the side. As the glow faded and the rain of knives stopped, Hinata disappeared, using more chakra to enhance her speed as she headed up toward the Hyuuga Head.

In a breath she had deactivated her father's key tenketsu, as well as the pressure points in his neck, rendering him temporarily immobile. In two breaths, she had him in a tight headlock that left him gasping for breath. She placed her other head delicately on the head of the Hyuuga Head, tilting it lightly into a position where it would be easiest to break it. _It is a shame that the first time that I must use Juuken on someone, it is on my father. _

"Let me leave," Hinata said. Her was the rattle before the snake's bite. All activity in the chamber came to a horrible stop. Hanabi, who sat directly next to her father, widened her eyes in horror. She made a vague lunging motion.

She felt the distinctive bite of a kunai against her neck. She stopped moving.

Hinata waited for everyone's eyes to turn to her before she spoke. She took a breath and spoke carefully, enunciating every syllable.

"Leave me be. Let me alone. You have sealed me. You have shamed me and accused me of all that you possibly could. You have taken my father, my uncle, my sister and brother from me. All you have done…"

The Council hung on her words as she tilted their head's neck back. A little more…

"All you have done for me is give me a cold, empty room in which to sleep in, and passable food, no offense to the Caged members in the kitchens, I assure you," Hinata said lightly. A chakra thread snaked into the robes of her father to pull out the official Hyuuga stamp. Another thread withdrew a slightly crumpled, folded sheet of paper from her own pocket.

The strings spread out the sheet. Hinata watched as another, slightly thicker thread wrapped around the Hyuuga stamp, hovering just over the paper as Hanabi asked a quiet question, one that had been on the minds of all the Hyuuga present:

"If we let you go, what will do without the Hyuuga name? Surely you realize that you will no longer be entitled to anything Hyuuga ever again?"

Hinata smiled serenely as the stamp pressed down onto the paper. "Oh yes."

Her eyes twinkled as she looked to the dark ceiling.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

With a puff of smoke, she, the paper, and the chakra strings vanished.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a warrior.

He was a man that never shook in his boots. He hadn't even twitched when he fought in the First Shinobi World War. He had not cried when his mentor's, Senju Tobirama, body was recovered from the field. He had lasted through time, tribulation, and many angry mobs of half-naked women wanting the blood of one toad-y pupil of his. No! He was no coward! He had waded through the legions of smitten men and women in love with Tsunade and Orochimaru to get the newest copy of Icha Icha! Ha ha, oh ho ho ho! There was no denying that Hiruzen was a brave man.

But it scared the rheum out of his eyes when a piece of paper suddenly appeared on his previously clear desk. With the leaf of paper came a plate of delicious sardine fish balls, one of his favorite foods.

Nevertheless, Sarutobi picked up the paper and a fish ball at the same time. The slightly crumpled leaf of paper had an ominous aura emanating from it. He decided to pick up a fish ball to try to soften the shock of whatever the paper contained.

"That's right, Saru, you are getting older. Start taking the good with the bad, that's a good man," said a transformed Enma, snowy white tail waving lazily in the air as he slouched next to Sarutobi's chair.

He only got a choked sound in reply. His summoner started to choke, almost dry-heaving after finishing the contents of the paper.

Giving his old friend a hard pat on the back, Enma read the first lines of the paper. He never really understood why humans felt the need to write things down, but he made an attempt to decipher the letters on the page.

"_The Hyuuga member Hinata, daughter of Kanako and Hiashi, niece of the deceased Hiashi and Kaya, is now formally _un-_Hyuuga. She forfeits all possible claims to Hyuuga-owned land, money…" _ Enma whistled as he turned the piece of paper over, per the directions of the arrow.

"_She agrees to forfeit her rights to all that was said on the previous paper, but she will not lose the things drawn below." _

Enma took one look at the drawing and fell into a pile of monkey hair. His tail and long beard created a nest around him as he cackled.

"What kind of drawing _is_ this, Saru?"

Hiruzen was a warrior. He was fearless and known to many as Kami no Shinobi. He was old, but powerful. He had never shook in his boots.

That didn't mean he didn't have a heart.

With a finality that rang of _Kage_, he raised his own stamp and sealed the deal.

The stamp "Approved by Sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen" made it official. Hyuuga Hinata was just Hinata.

* * *

Far away, in a certain copse of trees, Hinata fell to the ground. Her tiny, pale hands clutched at her chest in pain.

Hinata didn't cry—no, never that.

The pained gasps that escaped from her throat just were the manifestation of the tears that had dried at the passing of her mother's funeral. She thought that it would be easy, breaking from her clan. For the most part, she was correct. However, she did not account for the pain that this would cause her heart. Hinata thought that she was ready, that she could handle threatening the life of her father; she was shinobi, wasn't that enough?

She looked up to the leaves overhead. "Haha-ue, what have I done?"

* * *

Heh. Is anyone interested in being a beta? I need the help, dear readers.

Thank you for reading.


	8. 7: CHICKEN SOUP for the soul

Chapter 7: CHICKEN SOUP for the soul

The feeling didn't sink into Sakura's bones until the mist had dissipated and the villagers of Nami started cautiously on to the bridge. When it did come over her, it draped over her shoulders like a familiar cloak, wrapping itself around her shoulders and sinking inward, forming a warm, gooey ball in her stomach.

They had won.

The village was safe and Gato was dead. Her team was mostly unscathed, just a few senbon wounds on Sasuke and Naruto. Kakashi was low on chakra. She assessed her team's state as she shifted out of the crouch she had been holding for ages. Her senses spread out, trying to make sure all possible threats were gone before she took the bridge builder Tazuna by the elbow.

"It's okay now, Tazuna-san," she said curtly. Tazuna nodded as the sun shone on Sakura's pink head and the wind moved her tresses.

Not letting go of his elbow, Sakura raised her other hand in the arm, high and victorious.

"Team, to me!"

* * *

It was night, and they were traveling at a quick pace back to Konoha. Naruto was relieved to be gone; he was not sure he could take any more people grasping him by his forearms and thanking him, women and children stopping in the streets and bowing fervently. It seemed that being acknowledged by the masses had its downfalls, too.

Who knew?

Naruto had also missed Hi no Kuni; he had missed the chorus of the active crickets, the chatter of the squirrels and the ocean of trees. He had missed the temperate weather, had missed the shining sun and the friendly moon. He had missed this land, this peacefulness that seemed not to exist anywhere else. As he made his way out his tent, to where Kakashi was standing watch, he took this short time to appreciate his surroundings. He never really had the chance to when they were traveling over the treetops so fast that everything became a vague watercolor-ed landscape of green and tan.

But his walk had to end, as he plopped down onto the ground beside Kaka-sensei, looking up at the moon and preparing himself for the conversation he needed to have.

"…Kaka-sensei, my weights don't slow me down anymore."

Kakashi only let his eyebrows rise up. He had gotten used to the way this particular genin moved, that he was only detectable when he wanted to be. It still unnerved him, bringing up the question: _Am I getting rusty?_

"Un. You all seem to be moving at normal speed, even with the weights on. We'll get you some when we get back to Konoha."

Silence again. The stars seemed to be speaking to Naruto across the void. _Ask him, go on. The worst he can do is not tell you. _

Naruto's throat felt a bit dry. Nevertheless, he pursued.

"Ano sa, Kaka-sensei?"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Hai, Naruto-chan?"

"What happened, on the bridge that day?" Naruto's quiet voice quieted even more, dropping into something that was not quite a whisper, not quite a murmur.

Kakashi threw his head back to look at the stars. His voice turned lazy, like the speech of an old storyteller that has all the time in the world.

"Well, I guess it all started with a man who had hair the color of a golden brick…"

_Told ya so, _winked the stars.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes shot open, staring up at the stars in the sky above him. Many would appreciate the sight above them, away from the buzz of cities, a bunch of fairy lights weaved into a midnight curtain the exact shade of the blackest ink. Sasuke didn't. He stared unseeingly into the night as his waking mind struggled through the molasses of his fading nightmare. His eyes flickered to the right as he finally shook the daze from his brain, catching the soft pink hair of his team leader. She sat, reclining against the ground as she idly sharpened a kunai with a stone. Her face stared out at the surrounding landscape.

Sasuke figured it was time to start his shift. He rose to his feet, running a hand through his spikes to tousle it at the back. It was a habit he'd had ever since he was young enough to know what hair was. It came from his family liking to muss his hair and him, being the whiny child he was, protesting and trying to fix it, without the aid or a mirror. A pang struck his chest at the dear memory. What he wouldn't give for the feel of his Kaa-san's hand against his scalp…

He made his way toward Sakura, preparing to step over her lax body. Her hand, quick like vipers, grasped his ankle.

"What's the rush, Sasuke?" she asked tauntingly. With no real effort, she maneuvered his ankle, making him fall flat on his back as to watch over the landscape with her.

"Here," she said, just needing to fill the night with words. "Come sit with me. Come watch over your home with me."

Sasuke just scoffed in the back of his throat. Sakura ignored him, assuming that he was not fully awake. If he'd been entirely lucid, he would have never made such a noise at her, lest he die by blunt force injuries.

"Isn't it my shift yet?" he said impatiently.

Sakura refused to give in to her urge to clock him. She remembered a little boy whose smile once gave the stars above her head a run for their money, with teeth so white with the innocence of one who saw no hardship. She remembered seeing that smile every day until she was eight, when things got a bit harder to bear and her shoulders got a whole lot heavier with all the complications that come with the natural expansion of the mind.

"Why am I even he—"

"Let me tell you a story," she said, interrupting him just as rudely as he had asked his question. "Let me tell you a ghost story."

Intrigued, Sasuke fell silent.

Sakura took a breath to start the story her mother had told her since she was five. "Once, there was a clan as old as the hills and just as great as a mountain."

Sasuke's eyes drifted up to look at the balls of fiery gas above him. Or were they fairy lights?

"This clan resided in a great city. They were very influential and lived heartily, healthily. There was food to eat, children to raise and missions to complete. All was well."

Sasuke squinted. Yes, maybe they were fairy lights after all.

"But some in the clan grew dissatisfied as the city they lived in prospered. Other clans prospered as well, leaving the great clan with less power. The leader of the city was listening less and less to the council of the clan's elders. As time went on, this dissatisfaction grew more and more in the clan. They plotted to overthrow the current government. One clansman, who we shall call the Informant, worried about the overall sanity of his clansmen, went to the leader of the city and warned him of his clan's plot."

"The leader took immediate action, sending his own army to ambush the clan. Already wary, the clan retaliated with a vengeance."

"For days and days, the battle against the great clan and the city raged. The Informant fought through the ongoing battle to bundle his brother and hid him away from the fighting. Using a kinjutsu, he summoned the Shinigami. He pleaded for the god to eat the fighting spirit of his fellow clansmen's souls. In exchange for his own soul, he asked for the protection of his brother and his descendants."

"The Shinigami granted his wish. He ate the fighting spirit of the clan. Then, with the hilt of his knife he touched the head of the Informant's brother, turning his eyes red with the transferred spirit."

"Admiring the selflessness of the Informant, he did his clan one more favor."

"He instilled within his clan a peacefulness that turned their eyes bright silver. He told them that they were given a very rare blessing, this peacefulness. Finally, he devoured the soul of the Informant. Then he exhaled his rank breath over the great clan, who had stopped fighting long ago. The odor of his breath gave the clan one last gift; the gift of foresight over vast distances."

"The brother of the Informant grew up and fathered many children. His clan grew to be very influential, earning the name Uchiha, after the fans used to fan flames. The once great humbled clan grew subtly from the blessings bestowed upon them. They migrated and earned the name Hyuuga, since they always seemed to be in the sun, the sun representing good fortune."

Sakura's voice petered out, dropping to intimate tones as she finished the rest of the story.

"This is how the Uchiha emerged from the ashes of the then-nameless Hyuuga."

Sasuke snorted in derision. "Please. The Uchiha are the _Uchiha_. Not some fraction off the Hyuuga. Uchiha always were and _always will be._"

Sakura turned to him angrily as he sat up, gnashing her teeth. "Why is it that nothing ever gets through to you?"

Sasuke looked at the sky nonchalantly. Yes, there were no fairy lights up there. "What do you mean?"

Sakura's hands reached out to grab the sides of his face. Her forehead hit his with a dull thud. He stared impassively into green emeralds. "We almost died out there, Sasuke. _Excuse me_ for feeling a bit insecure in the safety of our team."

"Ahh," he said tauntingly. "Perhaps you're unfit to lead if you're so insecure, ne _Leader-sama_?"

Sakura gritted her teeth. The next thing Sasuke knew he was face down in the grass.

"Stay here, _Uchiha_. Don't bother troubling yourself with the safety of _this_ team," she hissed, already moving away from the prone boy on the floor. She couldn't believe for a single moment that she thought that the eight-year-old Sasuke's smile _even came close_ to the smile of Ichirou's.

Sasuke felt a curious detached panicky feeling in his chest. He had not missed the way Sakura emphasized _this._ Should he worry about it?

No, no he shouldn't. This team wasn't important to him anyway.

With that thought, Sasuke fell asleep with the ease of his four year old self.

* * *

It short and important. The next chapter will start the Chuunin Exam. Read to see how much the teams have grown!

I own nothing.

Thank you for reading.

(P.S. Perhaps I haven't really asked for it before; can I please get some more reviews? The input would really let me see what you think, dear reader. Please?)


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